Crafting Care: Stitching personal and collective definitions of care

This participatory workshop invites attendees to explore the questions “What does care look like for me in moments of crisis and distress—and what does it not look like?” through embroidery and fabric collage, in dialogue with the Crafting the Mind exhibition. We’ll start with a brief discussion, situating terms like "care", "health", "treatment", "healing" in the context of psychiatric abolition and contemporary mental health advocacy. Next participants will learn some simple embroidery stitches and will be supported in creating individual quilt squares reflecting their personal understanding of care. We’ll have time to share our quilt squares with each other and together, these pieces will form a temporary, ephemeral community quilt, assembled and shared at the close of the workshop before each participant departs with their work. No prior art experience required; all materials provided.

Lauren Leone (she/her) is an art therapist and textile artist, using embroidery and accessible crafts to promote belonging, individual and community healing, and collective liberation. Her research interests include the unique therapeutic benefits of craft materials and media and socially engaged craft practices and she’s the editor of Craft in Art Therapy: Diverse Approaches to the Transformative Power of Craft Materials and Methods. Her art practice focuses on identity, connection, and communication, and often relates to her experience with chronic illness.

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