How can craft become a catalyst for social repair? What metaphors from hand mending can apply to broader issues within our communities? Artist Catherine Reinhart will speak about her socially engaged project, The Collective Mending Sessions, (CMS).
This project is a series of workshops centered on collectively mending abandoned quilts. From 2018 - present, over 150 participants at 20+ workshops have repaired quilts together. These sessions resemble a quilting bee. They cultivate care for cloth and community through mending together and discussions centered around the value of repair. The resulting quilts are transformed from unwanted textile objects into contemporary fiber artworks through the work of many hands, moving toward a more egalitarian model of work
“The project, in concept and execution, is a beautiful, multilayered metaphor for the work that needs to happen to mend the political, social, and economic divisions in our nation.” - Sharon Stewart, Owner - Lockwood Cafe, Community Partner
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Artist Statement – Catherine Reinhart
I am an interdisciplinary artist who makes fiber art and conducts socially engaged projects with abandoned textiles. These works center on the themes of domestic labor, connection and care. Caregiving girds up our society and is based largely on the undervalued labor of women. Tending to one’s family and community is built on consistent, repetitive actions which provide comfort, ease suffering, and connect us with our fellow man.
Mending and stitching by hand parallel these tending actions. By using them, I join the emerging discourse on the unseen contributions of women. Through the reuse of found textiles and ritualistic processes, I communicate the transformative power of caregiving.
Recently, my social practice work relies on the communal actions of mending together. With my work, I contribute to relevant and timely discussions reframing the value of care and connection to our neighbors and our possessions. I give voice and hold space for stories of repair, loss, and kinship.
Artist Bio – Catherine Reinhart
Catherine Reinhart is an interdisciplinary artist from Ames, IA. She received her BFA in Integrated Studio Arts in 2008 from Iowa State University. In 2012, she completed her MFA in Textiles from the University of Kansas. Her works have been exhibited locally, regionally, and nationally. Reinhart is the recipient of numerous grants and residencies, including from the Iowa Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts. She has been named a 2020 Iowa Artist Fellow, a 2021 Artist-in-Residence at the Terrain Residency in Springfield, IL and an inaugural recipient of the Alex Brown Foundation Residency.
www.collectivemendingsessions.com
