BRIDGING INTRAFAMILIAL CULTURAL DIVIDES BY QUILTING A CROSS SECTION

Artistic expression provides opportunities for scientists to build bridges between the general public and their disciplinary endeavors. In this abstract, the author presents a personal story of how quilting served as a way for her to connect with her mother about the study of geology. Since beginning her Earth science academic journey in early 2016, the author has struggled to find ways to meaningfully share her passion for geology with her mother, who historically identified as a young Earth creationist. Despite a mutual love of hiking and the outdoors, discussion of geologic concepts with her mother remained a fraught subject with frequent interjections of disbelief regarding deep time, the ability of historical scientists to understand the geologic past, and accusations that historical geology is “all made up.”

However, in 2023, her mother’s curiosity about the Cascadia Subduction Zone led her to YouTube videos by professor and science communicator Dr. Nick Zentner, including a lecture illustrating geologic principles and relative age dating. As a consummate quilter, she immediately noticed that the cross section he used to illustrate these principles could also serve as a quilt pattern and that the order of geologic events represented in this cross section would also coincide with the order of quilting steps. The author and her mother then worked together to choose fabric and decide on the piecing and quilting methods, collaborating to create the quilt the author will present at GSA Connects 2024. Not only did this project serve as a point of relational connection between the author and her mother over their mutual interests, but also provided a pathway for the author’s mother to understand foundational geologic concepts that have translated into a deeper appreciation of the geologic structures she observes during her many hikes in northwest Arkansas. This project provides a blueprint for how geologic principles could be merged with a quilting class or kit to bring earth science communication to the quilting community.