Yes, this blog is supposed to be about paper, but I'm veering to mention a work of art I saw recently at Cincinnati's Kennedy Heights Art Center. The overall exhibition "Hanging Out" features work by women in a group called Art4Artists. They meet regularly, and work on individual pieces as well as collaborative ones.
The piece that so surprised and moved me was "Sandy Hook's Children: In Memory." It was created by Cincinnati fabric artist Patricia Shuler Statzer as her heartfelt reaction to the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 during which 20 children and six adults were shot and killed. She told me about it in 2014. She had been making it not because she planned to show it, but because she was compelled to.
When you walk into the gallery it first looks like a celebratory banner. Step closer. It is deceptively simple in its imagery and technique, which makes it all the more poignant and heartbreaking as we learn a bit more about each child.
