Fearless Grandmothers Climate Solutions Quilt

By the Fearless Grandmothers of Santa Barbara

The Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara’s Roots of Resilience quilt is now on display (during the month of October) at the Faulkner Gallery, Santa Barbara Public Library, 40 E. Anapamu St. It is one of the works selected for the Library’s show, Through Many Windows: A World Reimagined.

We originally produced the quilt for Earth Day 2022. On April 23, it was displayed in the courtyard of the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara.

The inspiration for the quilt was a large poster from France–Les Racines de Resilience, which illustrated what we need to do to build resilience and create a better world for our children and grandchildren as we face the climate and ecological emergency.

How could we translate the concepts on the French poster into our own language and make them relevant to our local situation? We decided that a cherished American art form–the quilt–was the perfect medium. And so our Roots of Resilience quilt was born.

More than thirty local woman crafted leaves, roots and branches for the “tree of life” motif on the quilt.

Each ROOT shows the values we need to protect ourselves and our environment. Each BRANCH shows how we can build a better future. Each LEAF shows things that are already being done in our local communities and actions that anyone can take.

Our hope is that people looking at the quilt will consider what they love, what kind of future they want to build, and how they can use their skills and talents to help regenerate our environment and our communities.

Through creative collaboration we made a large quilt in a little over a month. Who knows what we can create if we work together to protect our climate and our children’s future?