Quilt reveals triumphs of women’s group Organizations fashion squares to help Maine Women’s Fund celebrate 10th anniversary

The Maine Women’s Fund wanted to celebrate its 10th birthday in a way that would last and that would recognize the organizations it has helped fund since it awarded its first grant in 1990.

The result was an inspiring patchwork quilt being displayed in libraries, YWCAs and at events around the state. It is on view at the Belfast Free Library through September.

“The quilt is a beautiful display of the work of the fund and its grantees,” said Karin Anderson, executive director of MWF. “It captures the audience’s attention and draws them into the threadwork of organizations working for women and girls in Maine.”

In 1999, the board decided a quilt composed of squares made by grant recipients would be the best way to honor the women and girls throughout the state who have benefited from the fund. It seemed appropriate that quilting, a traditional art women have used for generations to capture family histories, be used to tell the story of the MWF’s first decade.

The decorative quilt stands 7 feet tall and is five panels wide. It is freestanding, the fabric stretched on wooden frames hinged together like a screen demure women in a different age stood behind for disrobing.

Organizations were asked to create a square that represented the project implemented with the MWF grant. While they are uniform in size, the squares are vastly different in style and execution. Few are made of the traditional scraps of cloth stitched together by hand. Most of them were made with fabric paints and small shapes glued onto the material.

The square created by the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging is a machine-stitched copy of the illustration on the cover of the book “Old Women’s Wisdom” published in 1996. Ten County women from their mid-80s to 102 years old were profiled in the book. A grant from the MWF paid for the initial printing.

The cover art was designed by Connie Tucker. It shows a woman swimming in what looks like a whirlpool. Children, shafts of wheat, a cross and other symbols follow in her wake. The swirling image is captivating.

“The concept for the drawing evolved while we were working on the book,” said Dorothy Sines of the Aroostook Area Agency on Aging. “We wanted it to represent the evolution of a woman as she nears the end of her life.”

Over the years, the Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community has received several grants from MWF. The square created by the organization’s staffers shows the silhouette of a woman standing on a ladder reaching into a dark sky filled with stars.

“That is what we encourage women we work with to do – set high goals and then reach for them,” said Jane Searles, who works at the Bangor center. A personal donation from Searles helped fund the production of the MWF quilt.

Other squares show women in nontraditional jobs. A photo printed on cloth shows women trained in the shipbuilding industry at Southern Maine Technical College. Tiny tools and silhouettes of large machinery are sewn onto the square made for the Gender Equity Project.

While the quilt most likely never will be displayed as art, it does show the significant impact the MWF has had on the state during its first decade.

Since 1990, the Maine Women’s Fund has: distributed almost $800,000 to nearly 200 programs empowering thousands of Maine women and girls; created an endowment of more than $1.2 million; hosted a series of conferences and workshop addressing women’s financial and literacy needs; and honored dozens of exceptional woman and girls at its annual dinner.

For more information on the Maine Women’s Fund, call 774-5513 or visit its Web site at www.mainewomensfund.org.