International Honor Quilt


The International Honor Quilt is a collective feminist art project initiated in 1980 by Judy Chicago as a companion piece to The Dinner Party. The piece is a collection of 539 two-foot-long quilted triangles that honor women from around the world. Through the Flower, Chicago's not-for-profit organization, gifted the collection to University of Louisville Hite Art Institute in 2013 to be available for research and to exhibit.

History

Creation

In Judy Chicago's autobiography, Beyond the Flower, she discusses initiating the International Quilting Bee, stating that "people would be invited to submit their triangular quilts...honoring women of their own determination. By doing this, I intended to provide an opportunity for community participation and also to counter another criticism that had emerged, this time about my choices of women."

Community collaboration

Individual quilt panels were often created by groups of women after viewing or hearing about Chicago's Dinner Party. For example, a group from the Chrysallis Center at Saginaw Valley State University, Michigan, visited the Dinner Party exhibition in Chicago in 1981. Returning to Saginaw via bus that evening, they decided they needed to create a quilt panel and submit it to the project. Under the leadership of Rosalie Troester, an English instructor at the University, and Trish Nowicke, Campus Minister, a group of fourteen students created a multicolored butterfly wing as a symbolic representation of both the growth stage, and the student career counseling and support center of which they were members. They completed the project and forwarded their creation to Through the Flower for display at the next Dinner Party venue in Montreal.

Donation

In 2013, Judy Chicago donated the International Honor Quilt to the University of Louisville after quilt historian and advocate Shelly Zegart suggested it as the best place for the quilt.

Description

The International Honor Quilt is a collection of 539 panels of triangular quilts honoring women, women's organizations, and women's issues.

Women represented

Mythological, religious, fictional

Well-known women

Women's groups and organizations

Countries represented

Women from around the world wanted to be a part of the feminist spirit of The Dinner Party as it toured. Twelve countries are represented with over 136 known municipalities. The University of Louisville's Digital Archives has detailed information about locations of all the quilt pieces.
  • United States –
  • Canada – 105
  • Australia – 30
  • Germany – 27
  • England – 12
  • India – 5
  • Austria – 3
  • Scotland – 3
  • Romania – 2
  • South Africa – 2
  • Israel – 1
  • Japan – 1

Impact

According to Kay Grubola, the International Honor Quilt "was a model for public statements like the AIDS Quilt — they contacted Judy to find out how she did it." Cleve Jones, founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, listed Judy Chicago's Dinner Party as one inspiration for the project.