Centennial Celebration Quilt for The First Unitarian Church of Dallas
By Sue Benner, September 1999
This is a work of creation and evolution, of reflection and collaboration. The idea started simply and gradually grew to be more complex. Just when I thought it was too much, the parts snapped together like a well-fitting puzzle pieces.
The quilt began with a charge from the Centennial Celebration Committee to create an artwork to hang in the sanctuary for one year to commemorate 100 years of church history. I commenced with a desire to incorporate various levels of meanings into the structure of the artwork: a grid of one hundred squares, curved outlines suggestion a chalice and flame, and symbolic representations of Unitarian Universalist principles. I wanted the work to invite interpretation, contemplation and discovery.
The artwork is essentially four silk quilts, each 54” square, together creating a nine foot square. Each of the four equal sections has an identical chalice and flame design. The rim of a chalice is suggested as a gentle curve, with tongue-like flames rising out of this arc. By rotating the orientation of each of the four sections ninety degrees, another design is made – a swirling form, a whirlpool, a galaxy. At the center where the four sections meet is space for imagining the mystery.
Working with illusions of overlays and transparencies, the UU symbols embedded in the unit squares emerge and retreat from the larger design. I drew from established images and ones from my imagination. I also reflected the patterns in the skylights, a favorite element of mine in the sanctuary architecture. I wanted these symbols to be graphically simple, a mixture of geometric and curvilinear:
Peace – a leaf.
Equality – four equal divisions of the square.
Compassion – the eternal spiral, starting in and going outward, starting out and going inward.
Tolerance – a diagonal with both halves bending a little to fit the other.
Tradition – from the equal-armed.
Reason – the perfect balance of a nine patch quilt block, again inspired by the skylights.
Unity – the circle in the square.
Community – a network of diagonals.
Service – two hands reaching out, helping, also our chalice, stylized.
Responsibility – four equal divisions again, but diagonally across the square.
Freedom – waving diagonals, the wind or waves, flowing freely.
Spiritual practice – floating spindle shapes, like prayers or meditations, moving in time and space.
U – the suggestions of a cursive U for Unitarian Universalism.
Finally, over the whole work there is a scattering of confetti, as in the Centennial logo, to celebrate 100 years of community in liberal religion.
