What is hope? It depends on who you ask.

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers,” Emily Dickinson wrote in a poem by the same name, published posthumously in 1891. “That perches in the soul, and sings the tune without the words, and never stops at all.”

In a seventeenth-century play, William Shakespeare called it medicine. South African theologian Desmond Tutu saw it as a light in the darkness. And Jane Goodall, the legendary primatologist who died earlier this month, wrote a whole book on the topic.

But if a picture is worth a thousand words, a community art project featuring 100 tiny scenes depicting hope—crafted by members of the American University community—reveals more about resiliency than flowery language alone can.

Threads of Hope—sponsored by The Civic Life initiative and shepherded by the Office of the Provost—is now permanently on display on the second floor of the Katzen Arts Center, where thousands of visitors each year can admire it while checking in for campus tours at the Welcome Center.

Over the last year, starting with Kindness Week in November, faculty, staff, and students were invited to show what gives them hope by needle felting their reflections on squares at pop-up events all over campus.

“What makes this art project so powerful is that it came from the hands of so many AU community members,” said Provost Vicky Wilkins, who created a square featuring her dog, Gitche, located near the top right corner of the quilt. “Faculty, staff, and students have created a living reminder of hope, optimism, and community that will be enjoyed for years to come.”

The idea for the healing art project came from Joo Lee, administrative coordinator for the dean of faculty. Over the summer, she quilted individual squares together to create a rectangular folk art piece showcasing the AU mark.

“The quilt represents the collective spirit of our campus—interconnected yet diverse,” she said. “Each square captures an individual phenomenon, a moment or feeling that stands on its own, yet gains new meaning in dialogue with others.”

For some in the AU community, hope is represented by Dr. Seuss’s the Lorax or the tufted Truffula trees he fought to protect. It’s a rainbow after a storm, cherry blossoms in the spring, or a brilliant sun rising over the Washington Monument.

It’s exemplified by hearts, the trans flag, beloved pets, pandas, and mythical creatures. It’s inherent in a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, which can be seen in the top right corner of the quilt.

During an event in the AU Library Makerspace, Rebekah Smith, CAS/BA ’13, library access outreach coordinator, crafted a flowery scene she titled, “Hope Springs Eternal.”

“Sometimes it feels like nothing I do is having any impact on the brokenness of the world right now,” Smith said. “But hope, for me, is choosing to plant the seeds of my actions now and believing they will bloom into something beautiful.” 

That outlook applies to her work supervising student workers, some of whom have never had a job. The nature of that relationship is that it’s fleeting. Eventually, those students graduate or move on, but while she has the chance to work with them, Smith aims to help them get the most out of the experience by helping them build their skills.

“I’m making the effort to plant these seeds of helping people, even though I’m never going to see the outcome,” Smith said. “I’m choosing to believe it will help them and help the people they go on to work with, as they go on to do very cool things.”

Part of the beauty of Threads of Hope is that over time, the individual contributors may leave campus, and the personal motivations behind the illustrated squares fade. But the collective message of the quilt will continue to inspire future Eagles and other passersby.

“I wanted it to be something we could leave for posterity as a record of AU,” Joo Lee said. “It’s a slice of AU. It shows you what AU is like—and who we are—through art. [Threads of Hope] engages us now, and it will engage us continuously.”