The Collective Mending Sessions is a series of socially engaged workshops centered on collaboratively mending a quilt.
“Reinhart has a long history working with textiles in her studio practice and continually brings work off the walls and into the hands of the audience; building community through commonality. Collective Mending offers a space of making, learning, teaching, sharing, and connecting. ”
Contributors
Catherine has been a joy to work with! As soon as we were introduced to her artwork, we knew we wanted to work with her in some capacity. Olson-Larsen Galleries is delighted to include Catherine’s artwork in our next exhibition along side seven other women artists and we are especially happy to be hosting a Collective Mending Session as yet another iteration of the social practice aspect of Catherine’s work.
— Olson-Larsen Galleries
Recently, I was attending a church service in Iowa City, during which the pastor set aside a moment for individual prayer and reflection. He asked us all to hold an image in our minds: what flashed across mine was a worn quilt, held by many hands. The hands mended the fabric with patience and bright red stitches--obviously, it was a mental image of the quilt being repaired through the collective mending project. Although the mending workshop I attended was in a community art center, not a church, my mind had somehow encoded my experience of the project as a visual prayer. What pleas might those red stitches hold? Upon what might they insist? Who might hear? Collective mending gives us a moment to be together, as we hold our questions in hand, and write them in thread.
— India Johnson, artist contributor
@indi.gram
“I’ve always considered the link between objects and community, and how we care for both is a direct reflection on how much we value either. Literal mending of cloth, which is the kind I do most, values material intelligence and hand skills, it values the will, patience, and personal autonomy. By teaching others how to mend, I pass on a skill, which develops sustainability not only for the recipient, but also for their community and their immediate and broader environment.”
— amy messiner, artist contributor
https://www.amymeissner.com/
How do you Mend your Community?
“Recognize that mending is not making something as it was before, rather mending is taking something that has been broken and making it useful again. So in order to mend a community implies that it is broken. And if it is broken, then only parts need to be removed, and replaced with something new, woven in with the old to create something whole again.” - Workshop Collaborator, ISU Design on Main Gallery
Collective Mending Sessions are uplifting, meditative and collegial gatherings. I relish the opportunity to add my stitches to those made by others and also the lively and meaningful conversations that ensue.
— Susan Hinkle norris, artist contributor
@eccentricoldwoman
“Perhaps my favorite thing about the collective mending sessions is the sense of quiet and calm that permeates the space the moment you step into the room."
-Amanda V. Herzberg, Workshop Collaborator
" The mending event I attended was at the super cute and amazing gallery @openhouse.space . Catherine & I met in Ames a few years ago and I was so happy to see her doing an event in my city! At Open House she taught everyone a mending stitch which I have used on my own clothing since. My favorite moment was when Catherine read us poems as the group mended. When asked about the importance of the quilt we mended, Catherine told everyone the origin was an item she thrifted in high school that lingered about her life. But it still deserved to be cared for even if it wasn't a family heirloom. I loved this sentiment and it's relation to caring for our communities. Patience and calm discussions will hopefully mend each other's communities together after being pulled apart in such an aggressive political environment. I found this project lovely and I learned a useful new skill. "