October 2, 2007 at 10am was the Quilt Dedication and Kick-Off Press Conference for the Arts for Healing Pilot Program serving children who are chronically/acutely ill and their families.
Where: Playroom - 4th floor Peds Unit, Vassar Brothers Medical Center
Attendees from Mill Street Loft: Carole Wolf, Arlene Gould, and participating artist healers;
Joan Henry, Alice Seeger, Christina DiMarco, and Laura Evonne Steinman

Starting Tuesday Oct 9th 9am-noon, Arts for Healing Pilot Program (see press text)
The program is running each week on Tuesdays and the Artist rotate weeks.

The Art of Caring by: Katie Shea
Arts help kids forget illnesses by: Christine Pizzuti
 

Created by:

• Duchess Arts Camp (DAC); campers, teaching assistants and artists

• Vassar Brothers Pediatric Ward children, youth, and staff

Poughkeepsie, New York USA
Summer 2006

The ideas stared to roll summer 2005, when I knew if I was going to work at DAC another summer I really wanted to concentrate on a community project. So after about a years worth of e-mails back and forth, phone calls and seeds planted this project arrived. I had many different idea on what could happen and with the collaboration of ideas this quilt project came to be. It was excited to work in a camp and another hospital setting. I worked at Hasbro Children's Hospital (Museum on Rounds) when I was studying at RISD and it reminded me the pure peaceful joy of working with people on a hospital ward that have so much life energy that surround them. That is surly the energy that needs to surround us all in these fragile life moments. Working also with the amazingly creative camper of all ages also opened my heart more to what life is all about.
One of the ideas I brought up was along with the camp week 5 theme of "Art Salad". I took that idea and we talked about food that keep us healthy but then also taking that at step father and what keep our soul, our spirit our life energy going, or to put it in simple terms. What makes us happy, what do you like to do? With those ideas in mind the quilt square were made.

Resources used and talked about:
Patchwork Quilts, Story Quilts , quilts in general and their histories
Faith Ringgold and her book Tar Beach
Faith Ringgold Video:
The keeping Quilt by:

Another special thing about this project is that it will be hung at Vassar where my Grandmother Sylvia Steinman gave birth to my Father Ronald Steinman, my Aunt Brenda Seligman (who I spend the summer with when working at Camp) and Aunt Sandy Levine.

•  Mill Street Loft (Dutches s Arts Camp)
  
• Vassar Brothers Medical Center