Ground Zero quilt comes to Houlton Artwork focuses on human tragedy

The Ground Zero quilt is coming to Maine. Lois Jarvis of Madison, Wis., made the quilt in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. “I’m not eloquent with words,” Jarvis said in a statement on her Web site www.gzquilt.com. “I made it to be viewed by other people and to somehow touch them.”

Jarvis stitched the Ground Zero quilt in response to the wave of grief and shock that swept the nation. With the quilt as the medium, her message was that the loss of buildings in the tragedy paled in comparison to the loss of lives.

The Ground Zero quilt’s central element is a huge star composed of 700 diamond-shaped pieces. Each one of those pieces is a photograph of someone who died in the Twin Towers in New York City.

The quilt will play a starring role in a quilt show in Houlton held in conjunction with the 42nd annual Maine State Firefighters Convention on Friday through Sunday, Sept. 9-11. The convention will offer activities open to the public.

Jennifer Metzger of Houlton, a member of the Friends and Needles Quilt Guild said of the Ground Zero quilt, “We wanted to have something [in the quilt show] that represents the courage of firefighters.”

The quilt show theme is hope and courage and the Symbolism of Ground Zero quilt design dovetails with both.

The guild, said member Marilyn Prince, has 50 members and was founded 21 years ago. The quilt show also honors the late Hope York, a prominent Houlton resident whom Metzger described as “such an asset to our quilt guild.” Some of York’s 22 quilts made for her four children and 18 grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be displayed in the show.

Never dreaming they’d be lucky enough to book the Ground Zero quilt for display, Guild members contacted quilt maker Lois Jarvis. The quilt finished touring the United States in June as part of the American Spirit Quilt Exhibition.

Jarvis e-mailed that an organization had failed to pay the $200 display fee and the quilt was available for the Houlton guild’s show.

“We were all moved to tears [by the terrorist attacks], but Lois acted on it. The quilt is so popular that the day after our show is over, Sept. 12, we send it on to California,” Metzger said.

The Ground Zero quilt will be the centerpiece of a display of more than 100 quilts in the guild’s show. The show will be open to the public 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon-4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9 to 11, at the Elks Hall, 88 Main St. Admission is by donation and $3 is suggested.

Posters of the Ground Zero quilt will be available for sale at the quilt show, Metzer said. “The cost is 20 dollars; five dollars is donated to charity, five dollars is donated to the quilt guild and the rest goes to defray the cost of displaying the quilt,” she said.

The requirements to display the quilt, Metzger said, are simple: No touching, a smoke-free environment and a secure building.

“Quilters are united by the commonality of fabric,” said Metzger, who also is the area coordinator for Project Linus. Community and quilt-guild members have donated more than 211 quilts and blankets to Project Linus since January, she said. Forty of those quilts were made by Houlton eighth-graders who participate in the Explorer Project.

“Houlton and fabric go together. Everyone quilts up here,” Metzer said.

At the quilt show, Houlton Junior-Senior High School art teacher Bonnie Tidd will exhibit the two 11-foot-high towers she constructed and wrapped with newspapers published after the Twin Towers fell. “I e-mailed newspapers all over the United States asking for editions about Sept. 11,” she said.

Also on display will be the two 10-foot towers made by 50 of Tidd’s seventh- and eighth-grade pupils, who decoupaged the surface of the towers with photos, words and images about the terrorist attacks.

“It’s one of the best projects we ever did,” Tidd said. “They put heart and soul into it. It was such an emotional time. It helped [the pupils] understand and deal with it. We are a community affected by the war because our local National Guard unit deployed to Iraq and were stationed at Abu Grab prison.”

Convention activities open to the public Friday night are a Shriner’s Casino and the Big Foot Monster Truck Show.

A parade of antique fire apparatus will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday. The equipment will be on display after the parade. A firemen’s muster on Sunday is open to spectators. And throughout the weekend Forest Service and LifeFlight helicopters will be on display. Firefighter Freddie will sing and entertain. Houlton Regional Healthcare Foundation will raffle a 2005 Mustang as a fund-raiser. Most events take place at the Millar Community Center and Community Park.

“It’s going to be quite a weekend,” Metzger said.