Patchwork of Love : 300 AIDS Quilt Panels Gathered for Transport to S.F.

Decorated with the names, pictures and personal effects of the dead, the patchwork panels are vivid reminders of AIDS’ toll.

Some bear inscriptions, like the piece of blue fabric, decorated with birds and flowers, that reads, “We remain together forever cherished by eternal memories.” Others incorporate personal mementoes, photographs or favorite items of clothing. Others still carry only a first name, like the colorful cloth, painted in cartoon-style art, that shouts “JEROME” in capital letters.

About 300 of the patchwork panels were gathered over the last six months by the Los Angeles Names Project in West Hollywood. They are being transported to San Francisco today where they will be sewn together with other rectangles of fabric commemorating AIDS victims around the country.

Altogether, organizers expect to have 10,000 panels when they display the National AIDS Quilt at the Mall in Washington on Oct. 8 and 9.

‘Represents Humanity’

“The phenomenal beauty of the quilt as a whole is that it represents a humanity beyond the statistics,” said Barry Greenfield, a volunteer at the Los Angeles Names Project.

“Each panel was made with a lot of love,” he added. “Some of them are serious; some of them are very funny. Each one is as individual as every person is.”

The panels are very personal commemorations, created by the relatives, friends or lovers of AIDS victims. Organizers say there are no rules for the panels, beyond a requirement that each one be 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide.

Organizers say the panels are valuable both as memorials to the dead and as therapy for the living. Michelle Vachon, production coordinator for the Los Angeles group, recently decided to commemorate a friend with a rectangle of cloth after months of trying to put him out of her mind.

“I tried to forget this person. I couldn’t, and it just kept eating at me,” Vachon said. “In making the panel, I was flooded with memories. I would cry and I would laugh.”

Her panel, entitled “Good Times,” includes layers of cloth in the shape of mountains and a river. In the lower left-hand corner is the label from a bottle of champagne and in the lower right-hand corner is the name of her friend.

The national Names Project was founded in San Francisco last year by Cleve Jones, executive director of the group. There are now between 40 and 50 quilt workshops around the country.

Organizers are hoping to stage an international quilt show and to find a permanent home to display the panel, according to Dan Sauro, a spokesman for the group in San Francisco.

The Los Angeles center is staffed by volunteers and uses space donated by the city. All the materials and equipment are donated as well.

As workers collaborate on quilts, “they get to know the person for a little while,” said Alan Ross, another volunteer at the center. “They look at what was put into a person’s quilt and they get a sense of their personality.”