10 Years of Art, Courage, and Community: From Vision Quilt to Visioning Beyond Violence

 “What we can imagine, we can create.”

In 2015, artist-activist and educator Cathy DeForest, Ph.D., a former high school teacher and a longtime believer in the power of art to heal, sat heartbroken at the rising tide of gun violence in our country. Her mind turned to the AIDS Memorial Quilt and its quiet power to transform sorrow into solidarity. And she asked herself a bold question:

Could we create a similar platform for people to envision an end to gun violence, together?

Cathy started where all change begins: at home. In Ashland, Oregon, she gathered neighbors around her kitchen table. No paid staff. No big grants. Just an old teacher’s heart, a vision board, and a sewing machine. She reached out to gun owners and artists, students and veterans, teachers and trauma survivors. Gun owners created the very first Vision Quilt panels.

She believed that healing wouldn’t come from division; it would come from dialogue, creativity, and radical inclusion.

That's how Vision Quilt came to be.

A Movement Created by Educators and Survivors

Cathy's vision resonated deeply and quickly expanded beyond Ashland. In Oakland, California, a community still grieving, welcomed her outreach. Educators like Kate Bowman, principal of Lighthouse Community Charter School, and Athena Larios, a teacher committed to trauma-informed learning, observed how their students were carrying heavy burdens. Cathy asked them what their students needed. They replied: “They want to talk about gun violence.” Together, they developed an innovative curriculum titled “Addressing Gun Violence: Creating Visionaries, Storytellers, and Community Activists.” With educators such as Melanie Swandby, Lily Carey, Regena Pauketat, Michelle Fitch, and Shuna Lewis, students began making quilt panels, writing poetry, collecting local data, and leading community exhibitions. 

Some, like Natalie, a student facing struggles, found their voice for the first time. “Tonight was the first time I felt something I did mattered,” she told her teacher through tears after showing her art. Others included Audrey Candycorn, a mother who lost her child to gun violence; Kenneth Johnson, a basketball star and survivor of 10 gunshot wounds; Anne Marks from Youth Alive!, Amana Harris from Attitudinal Healing Connection; and many more who knew this trauma firsthand and chose to stand up for the next generation. They all became part of the quilt.

A National Legacy Born in Oakland, Built on Partnership

Vision Quilt’s most well-known legacy in Oakland is the Peace in the Streets Banner Project. Today, more than 200  powerful art banners stretch across 1.6 miles of International Boulevard, each created by hands that have experienced loss but also hope. Made by youth, survivors, and community members, these banners are more than just art; they are public prayers. The project has also expanded, with additional banners appearing along MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland’s Laurel District, spreading messages of peace, justice, and resilience into yet another community corridor.

Partnerships for Change

At Visioning Beyond Violence, we understand that lasting change doesn’t happen in isolation; it grows through relationships, trust, and a shared vision. Over the past decade, we’ve been humbled to stand alongside schools, community groups, and grassroots leaders who believe in the power of art to transform pain into possibility.

In the past decade, we’ve partnered with people ages 3- 96 in 10 states, including: 

Our work expanded across the U.S. to Bainbridge Island, Chicago, Southern Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts. With every exhibition, workshop, and student-led panel, we created not only art but also dialogue, change, and hope.

Rising in Portland: A New Chapter

In 2023, we planted new roots in Portland, Oregon, where we launched Visioning Beyond Violence, reflecting our evolving mission. No longer just creating panels, we now train facilitators, educators, and clinicians to use our trauma-informed tools to spark healing in their own communities.

This new chapter is about growth, scale, and impact. What began around a kitchen table in Ashland and blossomed through partnerships in Oakland is now becoming a national model for community healing and gun violence prevention. 

As we look back on our first decade and ahead to the next, one truth remains: art has the power to transform grief into healing, isolation into connection, and fear into courage. At Visioning Beyond Violence, we believe gun violence is a solvable problem. Through art, education, and inclusive dialogue, we are building safer, more compassionate communities one panel, one classroom, one conversation at a time.

As one Oakland student shared after creating her quilt panel: “Tonight was the first time I felt something I did mattered.” Her words remind us why this work is so vital because every young person deserves to feel that their voice, their vision, and their future truly matter.

Now, as we enter this new chapter, we invite you to join us. Whether you’re an educator, a community leader, or someone searching for hope, you can be part of this work. Explore our free Addressing Gun Violence Toolkit, bring facilitator training to your school or organization, or support our mission with a donation

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Together, we can prevent gun violence. Get involved today.