BC News

Come together: BC's diversity quilt brings a powerful message home
Release Date: June 6, 2008

Many hands can make for a heavy message.

That’s the case with BC’s Diversity Quilt, an 8 ½ feet by nearly 7-feet representation of dozens of countries and cultures vividly depicted in fabric designed, gathered and stitched by the hands of countless BC students.

The quilt project was coordinated by Diane Segal, above, who also went on sabbatical to Guatemala and talked to students across the district about her experiences during the years the quilt was being developed.

After touring the district so students could learn about the art work and the message behind it and add to it, and a stint on display at the town’s public library, the Diversity Quilt has settled in its permanent home, a prominent wall in the airy Student Foyer at BC High School.

“It is a symbol of what people can accomplish when they come together,” said BC High School art teacher Diane Segal, who began the quilt project in 2003 and fostered its development along with students.

“BC students got together from all different religions and cultures and created this quilt that symbolized their heritage and the diversity around the world,” she added.

Indeed, the centerpiece of the quilt is a large turtle whose shell, just like the squares, is made up of a depictions of and fabric from several countries over five continents. In varying cultures, the turtle is seen as a symbol for the earth, vitality and wisdom.

A fan of renowned quilt artist Susan Shie, who is known for her “green” quilts with a message of healing the planet, Segal looked around her class one day and noticed the students from a variety of religious and ethnic backgrounds “in this little town of Bethlehem.” The Diversity Quilt was born.

Segal successfully pursued a grant for materials from Bethlehem Opportunities Unlimited, and her Fashion and Fiber students began work in 2003. Over the next few years, Segal and her students and the High School’s Art Club worked on gathering fabric from as many cultures as possible and piecing the quilt together.

In 2006, the district granted Segal a sabbatical to travel to Guatemala and work with women both on new art techniques and training to bring their products into the global marketplace at fair prices.

When she returned home, Segal traveled the district and used her experiences in Guatemala and the Diversity Quilt, a work in progress, as the basis for mini art and culture lessons with students at every school. Several classes offered beads and other embellishments for the quilt.

She brought the quilt to Clarksville Elementary, where for several years, Brenda Rosenbaum of Mayan Hands, a nonprofit fair trade company Segal also works with, has visited to speak to the students about fair trade and her woven products from Guatemala.

“Both the quilt and the fair trade products brought by Diane and Brenda imparted an important message to our students,” Clarksville Principal Dorothy McDonald said. “Our students learned about the struggle indigenous artisans, particularly women, have in being paid a fair price for their products and crafts. As 21st century global citizens it is important for our students to understand the cost of these inequities to families and children around the world and the fair trade remedies that can correct them."

Since Segal’s sabbatical, high school students from all corners of the building brought their energy and creativity to the quilt project: In addition to elementary students’ contributions, students with special needs created clothespins, decorated with words about tolerance or diversity or the name of their favorite countries, to embellish the piece. The border of the quilt itself is a haiku done by English students, the result of a teaching collaboration between Segal and retired English teacher Jeanne Donnelly: The Spectrum of Human Judgment Simply the Colors in a Box of Crayons. Last year, as many of Segal’s art students worked to bring the quilt project to fruition, Participation in Government (PIG) students stitched the haiku into the fabric and helped put the quilt on display at the Bethlehem Public Library.

“All last year, it was laid out in my classroom,” Segal said. “Art students who had extra time in between classes, my Fabric and Fashion students who were between projects, they all worked on it. A lot of classes participated.”

Junior Jillian Ricciardi, who worked on the quilt, said it was very well-received when she presented it to parents at a Diversity Night last year. She said it may not have caught the attention of a majority of BCHS students — at least not yet. Next year, the school’s Ad Agency class, under the guidance of teacher Joyce Jones, will create a poster detailing the story of the quilt that will hang next to it.

“It is such a big piece and has such a big presence,” Ricciardi said. “The quilt is such a good representation of a lot of the things our school is working to change — fighting boundaries, coming together and understanding. It represents all backgrounds and cultures all in one piece that’s going to be around for a while in our school.”

But, if the quilt is settled into a permanent home, is it done? Will it ever be?

“I think it’s a never-ending process,” Segal said. “If someone contacted me and said, ‘Hey, I have some buttons or I have some beads from another culture,’ I’d probably grab some new kids to sew them on.”

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