{"id":14721,"date":"2025-12-16T11:27:41","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/?p=14721"},"modified":"2025-12-16T12:02:00","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:02:00","slug":"poetry-is-not-a-luxury-a-makerspace-patchwork-quilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/2025\/12\/16\/poetry-is-not-a-luxury-a-makerspace-patchwork-quilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Poetry is Not a Luxury: A Makerspace Patchwork Quilt"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Header” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#E71939″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px|true|true” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_4,3_4″ use_custom_gutter=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”82%” max_width=”82%” custom_padding=”5px||5px||true|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2024\/09\/QCL1-logo1-white.png” alt=”ºì¶¹ÊÓƵ Library Logo” title_text=”ºì¶¹ÊÓƵ Library Logo” url=”https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/” admin_label=”QCL Logo” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”150px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Header Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_image src=”https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/127\/2025\/02\/cropped-2024-09-10_Rosenthal_Library-08-scaled-3.jpg” alt=”Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library” title_text=”Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library” admin_label=”QCL Banner Image” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_fullwidth_image][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ specialty=”on” admin_label=”Content Area” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”50px|||||” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_4″ specialty_columns=”3″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_row_inner _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” width=”99.8%” custom_padding=”20px|20px|20px|20px|true|true” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column_inner saved_specialty_column_type=”3_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_post_title author=”off” comments=”off” featured_image=”off” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” dbdb_show_tags=”on” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_post_title][et_pb_text admin_label=”Byline” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”20px” global_colors_info=”{}”]By: Susan N. Bernstein, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Main Content” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”10px|10px|10px|10px|true|true” global_colors_info=”{}”]\u201cPlease someone cut a square,\u201d urges poet Nikki Giovanni<\/a> (1943-2024), \u201cand put me in a quilt.\u201d Giovanni, who taught at ºì¶¹ÊÓƵ, is one of several poets whose poetry is featured in this colorful patchwork quilt. Created in Fall 2025 as part of an English 162w (Literature and Place, Writing Intensive), the quilt provided an opportunity to participate in a five-week experiential learning project in collaboration with QC Makerspace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

English 162w is a General Education Pathways course that offers a writing-intensive curriculum. Quiltmaking addresses a key learning object of the course, \u201cAsking analytical, argument-driven questions about literature and culture\u201d through close reading of poems and creative process essays then, creating a quilt piece based on a concrete or abstract image suggested by the poem.<\/p>\n

Maxine Greene <\/a>(1917-2014), the late Teachers College, Columbia, educational philosopher argued that, \u201cIf it weren\u2019t for imagination, people would be in a box all the time.\u201d. For the poetry quilt, students used materials from the QC Makerspace to imagine and create individual works of art, which were then combined to create a collective quilt on the course theme of Liminal Space<\/a>, a quality or place that turns seemingly ordinary occasions into moments of transformation.<\/p>\n

QC Makerspace provided all quilting materials for the students, and\u00a0 offered a congenial workspace where students had an opportunity to collaborate on reading, interpreting, and writing, as well as quilting. In their writing, students observed that the QC Makerspace serves as an excellent example of liminal space, an on-campus location outside of the classroom that offers opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and ultimately, an embodied experience with the power of poetry to inspire personal and collective transformation.<\/p>\n

Representing a collaboration of many hands, quilters used textiles, beads, paper, rubber gloves, masks, and other found objects to craft individual patches, then worked collectively to design and stitch the quilt. Displaying words and images, the poetry quilt is an illustration of the creative process at work. As Hunter College Professor Audre Lorde<\/a> (1934-1992) affirms, \u201cPoetry is not a luxury,\u201d but a necessity for everyday life.
\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”14725,14724,14723″ orientation=”portrait” show_pagination=”off” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” dbdb_version=”4.12.1″ global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

Students\u2019 artwork used with permission<\/p>\n

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\u201cPlease someone cut a square,\u201d urges poet Nikki Giovanni (1943-2024), \u201cand put me in a quilt.\u201d Giovanni, who taught at ºì¶¹ÊÓƵ, is one of several poets whose poetry is featured in this colorful patchwork quilt. Created in Fall 2025 as part of an English 162w (Literature and Place, Writing Intensive), the quilt provided an opportunity to participate in a five-week experiential learning project in collaboration with QC Makerspace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":267,"featured_media":14724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[166,200],"tags":[360,214,361],"class_list":["post-14721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cover-to-cover","category-featured","tag-eng162w","tag-makerspace","tag-quilt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/267"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14721"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14764,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721\/revisions\/14764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qc.cuny.edu\/library\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}