Westchester Unity Quilt

Continuing in the tradition of nineteenth-century quilting bees, or gatherings, this quilt was started in a Family Art Workshop at the Museum in 1993. At the time, the Museum displayed portions of the traveling NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, which was begun in 1987 and memorializes more than 94,000 people who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. The heartbreaking and heartwarming labor of love inspired Hudson River Museum staff to collaborate with docents, local artists, and other participants on the Unity Quilt, which honored the life of Tito Feliciano, who died of AIDS, as well as the heritages of the quilt’s makers.

Local artists Arlé Sklar-Weinstein and Jacqueline and Carmen Feliciano created the central image of the Hudson River and Palisades, above which is a dedication to Tito. It is surrounded by squares celebrating African, Armenian, Italian, Jewish, Polish, and Puerto Rican heritage, among others. Yvonne Borrelli and Cathy Shiga-Gattullo, who worked in the HRM Education Department, made the two squares at the upper left. Other makers who signed the quilt are Alice Basmajian, Bernice Chaiken, Carmen Felini, Eva Fishman, Deborah Gaynes, Mary Guido, Kimberly Leadbetter, Katy Macom, Maryam Martinez, Rosalie Pless, Connie Shulman, and Ruth Syrop.