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A portion of Stitching the Situation is on view at St Vincent College’s Foster and Muriel McCarl Coverlet Gallery, located in the Fred Rogers Center, as part of the exhibition, “Through the Mask: Conversations about Culture and Covid.” The exhibition features 20 artists from around the world.
Jacqueline Wernimont, the Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities and Social Engagement at Dartmouth College, wrote a beautiful article about the importance of data visceralization for WIRED magazine.
”An important part of what data visceralization does—whether by walking an exhibition, riding a train while listening to a composition, or stitching in community—is create the space for audiences to take time to grieve.”
-Pandemic Death Counts are Numbing. There’s Another Way to Count, July 21, 2022, WIRED magazine.
Our local library maker space, BLDG61, has been an integral partner and supporter of this project.
-Perspectives on Reading, quarterly online magazine produced by Overdrive
KGNU “Connections’ show, Dec 17, 2021
Host: Fiona Foster
Art during the pandemic
Heather Schulte is an artist in Boulder, CO. In March 2020, she founded Stitching the Situation, a collaborative project which physically manifests the US COVID-19 data in the form of cross stitch embroidery.
Greg Gonzales is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, and musician. He spent the bulk of his career at Colorado Ballet where he was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1997. Gregory is a recipient of the Legends of Dance Award for 2019 from the Dance Archive University of Denver. He is urrently performing Drosselmeyer in Colorado Ballet's production of The Nutcracker
“Heather Schulte’s work “Situation Report,” for which the exhibit is named, will be the centerpiece of the show and hang throughout the gallery. It’s a 39-foot ribbon of fabric with stitches of blue and red thread representing COVID-19 daily cases and deaths in the U.S.”
“This case study, which explores a participatory textile making research project, is written by Heather Schulte.”
“Artist Heather Schulte talks about her "Stitching the Situation" participatory memorial project. We discuss her Uncle Joe--he died of COVID-19 in April--and the cross-stitch panel she made in memorial of him.”
-COVID Calls with Scott Gabriel Knowles podcast , YouTube video, or on Periscope.
“In this section you will find arts-based projects that address COVID-19 awareness-building, prevention, coping or recovery. ”
Stitching the Situation is included in this repository.
-University of Florida Center for Arts & Medicine’s COVID-19 Repository
“Heather - 57:30 - Embroidered COVID-19 Data community project”
“A community-based project bringing people together in a place and a time when we are so distant, and so forced to be separated.”
“Cross stitching helps Boulder artist process gravity and grief” (also aired on KGNU)
“The project began as a way to give a visual representation of the global pandemic; something more tangible than numbers on paper, according to Schulte. But it quickly evolved into a catharsis, a release from the stress of being isolated from her normal life.”
“It’s been fascinating paying close attention to the way the numbers are reported, whose numbers are reported, when they’re reported, how they’re reported,” she says. “There is political shaping to that: who has access, who doesn’t. Who has testing, who doesn’t… I mean, the numbers aren’t accurate because we don’t have comprehensive testing.”
“Situation Report began as a solitary ritual but has grown with the pandemic into such a big project that her neighbors are now joining in the stitching process.”