In September, Eliza Fernand kicked off a tour of her project Quilt Stories, an “ongoing investigation of quiltmaking from the standpoint of a contemporary practice. ”I give an interactive performance called Quilt Stories where I sit inside of a quilted tent, meeting visitors and recording their stories and anecdotes about my quilts.” She visited Philadelphia and connected with myself and fellow social practice curator/experimental quilter Kate Sclavi. We set up a quilt tent in Rittenhouse Square park and invited the public to hand quilt and tell stories of quilts from their lives. We had only been set up for a short while when NBC/Yahoo.com (yes!) showed up to film the park and then to film us in it. But only a minute later a “concerned citizen” (read: uptight ‘do-gooder’) called the police to report on the inappropriate appearance of a quilt-tent in the park! The police officer was polite though firm that we had to leave the park. I don’t believe what we were doing differed substantially from a picnic in the park, and I can only hope that additional quilt tents sprout like Hoovervilles occupying Philadelphia public space…
