Growing Up Too Fast
The girls I met at the Springfield Family Residence seem to be growing up too fast. Melanie, age 19 is 6 months pregnant with a 9-month-old son. She told me “It’s difficult because you don’t live with your family members. …
Art from Tilden Hall Family Residence
I worked with an absolutely wonderful group of kids today at Tilden Hall Residence in Brooklyn. They worked diligently to create thoughtful fiber art pieces and made it very hard for me to choose a few to share with you.…
Ted: Fighting Through Life’s Ups and Downs
Ted's life has been a series of ups and downs, so I designed his piece as a timeline of his story. The piece graphs his life from a happy childhood through troubled teen years, a failed marriage and a fight…
The Ups and Downs of Life in the City
I really like having extra art days! July 4 meant an extra day in the studio, which meant faster progress on the next piece in the series. This piece is about a woman I met in one of the faith-based…
Roger Climbs Out of the Depths
As Roger told me the story of his life, I was struck by the layers of sadness that made up his past and the determination he had to continue his slow journey to a better life. When he was born,…
Steven Finds the Light – And So Do I
This piece gave me a lot of trouble, but it's finally done! I added a few more images and tweaked the placement before sewing them all in place this morning. Then, I placed gold tulle over the whole piece and…
Telling Steven’s Story
Now that the chuppah is ready for my big day, I'm back to quilting the stories of homeless New Yorkers. It took quite some time to get the design right on Steven's piece, but I'm finally on the right track.…
Art from Queens
I visited a shelter in Queens yesterday and worked with a wonderful group of students. Once again, each student made a piece that told his or her story. A few examples are shown here. Justice, age 11 has been living…
A Visit to Town & Country
I visited the Town & Country Residence last week and worked with a group of wonderful students ages 6-11. Each of them made a piece that will be included in Temporary Shelter. Below are a couple examples of their work.…
John’s Story
John is a trucker. After getting his truck stuck under a bridge, he lost his job and soon after, could no longer afford rent. Unlike Joe, John found that people were willing to help. His two daughters (both married and…