“I decided that if I wanted to be considered important to the city of Boston, I really had to work with people who didn’t have art in their lives,” Clara explained to 90.0 WHUR radio. The Boston native has made up to 60 other community quilts with a diversity of groups, from women in Vietnam, Brazil, Thailand, Puerto Rico, to those affected by the initial bombing of Baghdad, to troubled teens, to Gloucester Fishermen’s wives. “The reaction of most people is delight that they were invited to participate in creating a memorial.” She connected with the MIT Museum through MIT Police Sergeant Vossmer, with the intention to honor fallen officer Sean Collier. In the earliest stages of the collage, she reached out to other victims of the tragedy.
