Panels from The AIDS Memorial Quilt @ Southern Utah University (Cedar City, UT, October 8-20)

SUU´S HUNTER CONFERENCE CENTER

TO FEATURE "PANELS FROM THE AIDS MEMORIAL QUILT"

OCTOBER 8-20, 2012

Southern Utah University, Cedar City, Utah: Created to commemorate the lives lost to AIDS over the last decades, The AIDS Memorial Quilt serves as a political and social statement about the impact of this plague. As part of SUU´s Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery fall exhibition, Everything In Between: Art Quilts, Fabric Collage, and Embroidery, Panels from The AIDS Memorial Quilt will be on exhibit from October 8-20, 2012, in SUU´s Hunter Conference Center on the second floor. The Panels will be on view Monday through Saturday from 10am until 4:30pm; admission is free. Panels from The AIDS Memorial Quilt opens on Monday, October 8^th at 10:00pm with a reception from 1:00-3:00pm in the Whiting Room of the Hunter Conference Center.

In the late 1980s as the AIDS epidemic spread around the globe, a group of strangers assembled in a San Francisco storefront to document the lives lost to the disease. Their mission was to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS and to help people understand the devastating impact of the disease at all levels, and in all constituencies, of society. These people served as the foundation of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. Today the Quilt is a powerful reminder of the AIDS pandemic. The actual Quilt consists of 48,000 individual 3-by-6 foot memorial panels, most commemorating the life of someone who has died of AIDS, which have been sewn together by friends, family members and loved ones.  

On Tuesday, October 9^th at noon a special Convocations will feature the distinguished AIDS activist and co-founder of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, Cleve Jones. His presentation will be held in the Gilbert Great Hall in SUU´s Hunter Conference Center. An American AIDS and LGBT rights activist, Jones conceived of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt which became, at 54 tons, the world's largest piece of community folk art as of 2009. In 1983, he co-founded the San Francisco AIDS Foundation which has grown into one of the largest and most influential People with AIDS advocacy organizations in the United States. The Convocation is free and open to the public, and will be followed by a reception for attendees.
Thursday, October 11^th is National Coming Out Day and the Queer Straight Alliance of Southern Utah University will host a Coming Out Carnival from 4:00-6:00pm. The event celebrates the National Day of recognition, acceptance and respect. Other SUU student clubs will also participate in the event. The Carnival is scheduled to be held on SUU´s Business Quad and it is free.
On Monday, October 15^th, there will be a screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary, Common Threads: Stories of the Quilt. Narrated by Dustin Hoffman, the film focuses on several people who are represented by panels in the quilt. After the screening there will be a discussion of the film. The screening will place in Sharwan Smith Center Theater and will begin at 7pm. The screening is free and the public is invited to attend.This event is sponsored by the SUU Student Association.   

An insightful presentation, When Viruses Go Viral: The Biology of Viruses, will be given by Dr. Jon Karpel, SUU Assistant Professor of Biology, on Tuesday, October 16^th. This seminar will explore viruses and their characteristics including HIV, West Nile and influenza. The presentation is scheduled to be held in SUU´s Education Building, room 104 and begins at 5pm. The seminar is free and open to the public.

The final event scheduled will be Remembrance: A Tribute, scheduled for Wednesday, October 17^th. Through dramatic readings, songs and personal recollections, this tribute centers on the people who we have lost to AIDS, represented by the Quilt, personal reminiscences or selected from theatre pieces or literature. Beginning at 7pm, the tribute will be held in the Hunter Conference Center´s Whiting Room. The event is free and open to the public.  

Southern Utah University´s Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery invites the community to bear witness to Panels from The AIDS Memorial Quilts. For more information about the SUU's Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery or to sign up for the mailing list, please call the gallery at (435) 586-5432, or visit the gallery website at www.edu/pva/artgallery.

ABOUT THE COLLEGE
The Southern Utah University College of Performing and Visual Arts is comprised of nationally accredited departments of Art and Design, Music, Theatre Arts and Dance, as well as a graduate program in Arts Administration and the new Center for Shakespeare Studies. The College offers 16 different degree areas, including liberal arts Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees; professional Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Fine Arts in art and theatre degrees; and a Master of Fine Arts in Arts Administration degree. More than 60 full- and part-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring over 550 majors in the College. Over 1100 students enroll each year in over 195 arts classes on the SUU campus. The College presents 100 performances, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions each year. The College´s affiliate organizations include the Braithwaite Fine Arts Gallery, American Folk Ballet, Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the SUU Ballroom Dance Company. For more information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts, contact the Office of the Dean at (435) 865-8561, or by e-mail at cpvamktg@suu.edu.