Community / Artworks 945 Quilt

This mixed-media art quilt entitled "Community / Art Works 945" was inspired by the community spirit demonstrated by the neighbors (homeless), administrators, staff, and volunteers at the Urban Ministries Center in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina.


During the collaboration for the art quilt entitled "Hand and Hand, building Community on Common Ground," the team developed relationships with several of the neighbors that were actively participating in the community quilting sessions.  These interactions and the subsequent friendships, inspired the team to develop a sister quilt to illustrate their specific stories.

The quilt celebrates the life stories of eight neighbors whose lives were positively impacted by their involvement with the center and its art program, artworks 945.  These eight people, whose names have been altered, worked with, befriended and touched the lives of the quilt artists who created this commemorative work.  Each window portrait depicts the likeness, spirit, artwork, and the story of a neighbor who contributes(d) to the Urban Ministries Center community.

For people whose lives depend on a daily search for subsistence, community interaction outside those needs is tenuous.  While each window portrait illustrates a specific person who had a tremendous impact on the Urban Ministries Center community; those of us who worked with neighbors have only begun to know some and have learned well about those who had come before -- those who helped found the community program. 

The title of the piece borrows from the name and address, Community Works 945 of the historic train depot building housing the center’s art, soccer and gardening programs.  A companion quilt for Urban Ministries walls is complete and hangs at the center to honor the patrons.

The concept of an art quilt and the mission of the Urban Ministries Center align perfectly with the College of Health and Human Services mission statement: Through contemporary art, we seek to advance a culture that honors diversity, openness, compassion, courage, dignity, and ultimately, provides empowerment. It is currently on permanent display at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Health and Human Services Building. 

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Rebecca L. Aranyi
In Collaboration with Frances Hawthorne and Pamela Lawton

Community / Art Works 945
Hand and Hand, Building Community on Common Ground II
On Permanent Display at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
Health and Human Services Building, Charlotte, NC
48” x 72”
2007
Mixed Media Quilt

Individual Stories:

Details: