Green Lady Liberty, layered cotton fabrics stitched with thread. 36″ x 60″
currently on exhibit at Visions Art Museum, San Diego in “Expressions in Equality” Jan. 17-April 5, 2015
– a show of 23 art quilts curated by Sheila Frampton-Cooper
After the Civil War ended slavery in the United States, a French sculptor named Bartholdi was inspired to design a monument to celebrate liberation. The collaborative effort of France and the U.S. used over 120,000 donations under $1 each to complete the project.
Today the Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor above the broken chains at her feet. She has become an icon of freedom and a welcoming symbol to immigrants traveling from abroad. When my friend immigrated from Italy as a small child, she saw the monument through a boat window and asked her mother, “Is that my grandmother?”
Battered by accidents, explosions and Superstorm Sandy, the monument continues to inspire. Someday I wonder if an arriving alien might ask if the blue-green lady is their grandmother.
All photos by Russ RuBert. Here are few more detail photos below:
Oh, she is so beautiful! I love how she looks partway underwater, but only because it’s so beautiful. I seriously hope we never see her that way again, but if Climate Change isn’t stopped, I suppose that’s her new fashion look. What a pity, when all we have to do is each cut back on the crud we waste in our lives. We could keep our Lady Liberty AND our planet, but apparently there’s too much self-sacrifice involved. I keep hoping people will wake up and decide to quit arguing all day and pull together to save it all. Anyhow, your piece is tremendous, Pam!
Thanks Susan, for the lovely compliments! I know it seems a little sad to think of her underwater, but I guess I was trying to say how she may outlive us all, and the concept of freedom of course should! Plus it was fun to make the little alien tourists:)
Strong images, story well told in powerful colors. Clean, crisp technique while being so organic in flow. Love your work!
Hi Roxie – thank you for the great critique comments! I do always try to achieve strong images, and sometimes it’s a struggle because I kind of tend to want to throw in everything but the kitchen sink:) So it definitely comes back to editing one’s own work.