52-Piece Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Exhibit Comes to Jefferson’s Ferry Lifecare Retirement Community

July 22, 2008

(Setauket, N.Y.) The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) nationwide quilt exhibit, “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece,” will be traveling to Jefferson’s Ferry Lifecare Retirement Community on September 19-21, 2008.The exhibit showcases 52 full-sized quilts of emotion-filled illustrations and beautiful tributes to loved ones taken by Alzheimer’s. An artist statement is paired with each quilt to offer insight to his or her design of heartbreak and hope. The event will be open to the public and held in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Awareness Day and Jefferson’s Ferry’s second annual Mini-Memory Walk on Saturday, September 20.

AAQI, founded in 2006, is an internet-driven, grassroots, totally volunteer effort to raise awareness and fund research through art. The Michigan based non-profit corporation has raised more than $157,000 for various chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association during 2006 and 2007. “My mother is one of 5.1 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease,” says Ami Simms, Founder and Executive Director. “I began the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative because I think it is possible to make a difference, one quilt at a time.”

Alzheimer’s is a progressive and degenerative brain disease that kills brain cells and causes the loss of memories, life skills, and the ability to reason and learn. “Quilters across the United States are threading their needles in the hopes of bringing a cure for Alzheimer’s disease one stitch closer,” says Simms. To date an estimated 192,000 people nationwide have attended the “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece” exhibit in support of this great cause.

This will be the first showing of “Alzheimer’s: Forgetting Piece by Piece” in the New York/Tri-State Area. “Jefferson’s Ferry is honored to host the 52 piece quilt exhibit,” says Karen Brannen, Executive Director at Jefferson’s Ferry. “Just within our community, there are many residents, caregivers and families who have been affected by this insidious disease. But, with as many as 5 million people living with Alzheimer’s, the exhibit is a wonderful way of sharing information and emotions with the Long Island Community.”

Jefferson’s Ferry is Long Island’s premier, non-profit, continuing care retirement community (CCRC) for individuals 62 and up. Sponsored by the Mather/St. Charles Health Alliance, Jefferson’s Ferry offers residents the opportunity to enjoy a quality life free of worry about future health care needs while affording them the opportunity to follow their passions and discover new interests.

For more information on the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative or Jefferson’s Ferry, please contact Mary Walter-Shafer at mshafer@jeffersonsferry.org or 631-650-2613. Details about the exhibit can be found at www.alzquilts.org.

Photo: “Shattered” by Karen Musgrave (Naperville, IL):

Artist Statement:

Alzheimer’s is a horrible, dreadful disease. The body stay but the loved one disappears. My mother-in-law, Dorothy, has it. She is dying the death she most feared – the death of her mother. Fortunately she no longer remembers that fear. But then again, she remembers no one.

My mother-in-law’s arms are crossed and shattered in this quilt. The hands of my husband, son, and myself are lovingly open and reaching out. I wished this made a difference, I pray it does. However, it is difficult to know, since she no longer remembers who we are. It is not easy, this long good-bye.

###

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Society