HEARTBREAK IN THE
HEARTLAND
©1995
Machine Pieced raw-edged
Machine Quilted
Cotton, tulle, silk ribbon, large needle, cotton batting
60”width x 60”length
Price- $7500.00
I have lived in Oklahoma most of my life, but
in 1991-1995, we were living in Virginia, because my husband was working
Washington, DC. In April 1995, OKC
had a most devastating event, the OKC bombing.
I was not able to come home, where all of my family was, so I stayed
glued to CNN. One week after the
bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, I knew I must work through my
feeling by making a quilt. The
images are not necessarily pleasant to view, but serve as a reminder of that
terrible day in April.
There are many details in the quilt to symbolize the
bombing. There is a Ryder truck
coming out of the state of Kansas and exploding at the Federal Building.
The heart of OKC is shattered that day and items that could have been in
the building, are pouring out, flooding to the foreground.
The street names are penned around the perimeter of the city grid.
The airport is represented in the SW corner, where help arrived from all
over the world. Also the president
planted a tree at the White House and it is symbolized in the right hand corner.
Real police tape borders the debris to keep people a distance away.
The colors of ribbons worn by the people make up the border blocks,
blue-courage, yellow-missing, white-innocence, purple-children, and
teal-healing. The heart is being
sewn up with the teal ribbon and large needle, to symbolize that the healing has
begun. The back of the quilt has a
horrible cityscape, with the documentation placed in three bomb bursts; people
are running away in the next border. The front is covered in black tulle to symbolize the cloud
that was over the city.
Show History
2004- “Wintertales” Stage Center,
OKC, Arts Council in conjunction w/COQG
2001- Invitational Quilts, COQG
Show, OKC, OK
1998- “Uncommon Threads”
Solo Exhibition @ Kirkpatrick Galleries, OKC
1998-“Quilt Extravaganza”-
Cleveland County Historical Museum, Norman, OK
1997- Invitational Commemorative
Quilts, Quilter’s Heritage Celebration, Lancaster, PA
1996- “Coverings”- Solo
Exhibition @ Redlands Gallery, El Reno, OK
1996- International Quilt
Festival, Houston, TX, juried show
1995- COQG Quilt Show, OKC, OK-
Viewer’s Choice: 3rd Place
