By Darla Shelden, Metropolis Sentinel Reporter —
OKLAHOMA CITY – The Nationwide Museum of Ladies within the Arts has partnered with Her Flag, a nationwide artwork and journey venture created by Oklahoma Metropolis artist Marilyn Artus. The venture celebrates the One hundredth-anniversary yr of the passage of the nineteenth Modification, which enshrined girls’s proper to vote throughout the textual content of the U.S. Structure.
Artus collaborated with a bunch of up to date girls artists—one from every of the 36 states that ratified the nineteenth Modification by 1920—in an effort to create the big 18 x 26 foot flag that will likely be put in on the outside of the museum’s façade alongside New York Avenue.
Every artist created art work impressed by this anniversary that Marilyn became a stripe.
Marilyn’s authentic plan was to journey to all 36 states so as of ratification over 14 months, taking 17 separate journeys. In a public efficiency in every Capital Metropolis, she sewed the stripe onto the flag with the native artist that made the representing stripe in attendance.
Beginning in June of 2019, Marilyn put over 20,000 miles on her automobile earlier than the tip of the yr. She arrived within the twenty fifth state to ratify, Oregon, earlier than Covid-19 halted the touring to make the Her Flag venture.
She then started live-streaming the stitching of every stripe from her house in Oklahoma Metropolis.
The Her Flag venture was accomplished on August 18, 2023 when Marilyn sewed the ultimate stripe on whereas live-streaming from Nashville, Tennessee.
A visible artist based mostly in Oklahoma Metropolis, Marilyn’s work explores the feminine expertise and ladies’s points, in keeping with her web site. She has created reveals that discover the suffragist period within the U.S., pays tribute to an assortment of ladies in U.S. historical past and incorporates many various stereotypes that girls navigate by way of each day.
“It looks like a dream,’ Artus posted on Fb. “ Her Flag 2023 has its personal web page on the Nationwide Museum of Ladies within the Arts in Washington D.C. It will likely be hoisted onto the constructing a bit over a month from now.”
Every collaborating artist created imagery impressed by each the anniversary and her house state.
The artists symbolize various ages and ethnicities, they usually explored a wide range of themes and topics, Artus says. “Many artists depicted notable girls from the suffrage and civil rights actions of their works.
“Others created scenes that reference the truth that the nineteenth Modification didn’t, in truth, make sure that all girls had entry to the poll field.”
A number of stripes incorporate portraits of up to date girls and women, highlighting the legacy of the suffrage motion in right this moment’s social justice activism.
Artus tailored every art work right into a stripe for the flag.
“Once I was 14 years previous, I took a college journey to Washington, D.C. and visited the Smithsonian Museum,” Artus recollects. “Though a lot of it was lacking, my strongest reminiscence is of the colossal flag that hung over Fort McHenry in Baltimore throughout the battle of 1812. It was the star-spangled banner, and the inspiration for the poem by Francis Scott Key that later turned our nationwide anthem.
“Right here was a second in historical past that I may relate to,” Artus continued. “A lady had created this vital factor — it was sewn by her palms, simply as a younger lady I had watched my mom sew garments for me.
“To today my expertise at that museum manifests itself in my artwork making,” she mentioned.
One other Oklahoma artist concerned within the venture is Denise Duong, who created a bit for the “33rd State to Ratify” the web site notes.
“In 1918, Oklahoma voted on a state constitutional modification for ladies’s suffrage,” Duong states, “It handed this modification permitting girls to vote in state elections. Then on February 28, 1920, Oklahoma turned the thirty third state to move the nineteenth Modification to the USA Structure.
“We rejoice the suitable to vote,” Duong mentioned. “With that proper comes freedom of speech, of selection. With that proper, our voices could be heard louder. Might we shield these rights for ladies and respect the method and the those that bought us right here.”
Marilyn’s artist assertion reads partially: “Being feminine is my best curiosity. It’s a by no means ending useful resource of pleasure and heartache that evokes me. My ardour is working with supplies which can be surprising as a automobile for fiber making to discover this curiosity.”
For extra details about this venture go to herflag.com. To be taught extra about Marilyn Artus, go to marilynartus.com
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