Welcome Blanket is a participatory, global initiative created by Los Angeles based artist/designer Jayna Zweiman. Zweiman – who gained national prominence as the co-founder of the Pussyhat Project – organized this effort as a way to reimagine President Trump’s proposed border wall as a space for handcrafted blankets. The ongoing call to action asks participants to create 40” x 40” coverlets, using a simple knitted pattern, with the hope that the total yarn used in the project will equal the barrier’s roughly 2,000 mile span, requiring an approximate 3,200 blankets.
How to participate:
1.Make a blanket! Make it something you would like to receive, and about 40×40 (for the blanket pattern check the Welcome Blanket website at welcomeblanket.org)
2.Write a Welcome Note! (templates available on the Welcome Blanket Website)
3.Mail or deliver your blanket/note (by March 1, 2019) to:
Welcome Blanket
Fuller Craft Museum
455 Oak Street
Brockton, MA 02301
Once made and collected, the blankets are distributed through immigration organizations, refugee resettlement agencies, and other community-based groups. Many blankets include notes of welcome and encouragement, thus deepening the project’s potency and the maker-recipient connection, all while continuing the important tradition of political action through craft.
Fuller Craft Museum is honored to host the Welcome Blanket exhibition, featuring a selection of works that were previously on view at the Smart Museum in Chicago.
Related Links:
Felt: Fiber Transformed – November 17, 2018 – May 12, 2019
Mano-Made – New Expression in Craft by Latino Artists – December 15, 2018 – September 8, 2019
Elizabeth Potenza: “Look up,” she said, “there is more color than you ever imagined.” – January 12, – November 17, 2019
Tom Kiefer: El Sueño Americano – The American Dream – January 26, – July 28, 2019
Donna Dodson: Zodiac – February 2, – May 19, 2019