her FLAG
Detail of the Her Flag project South Dakota stripe featuring “Suffragist Sue” by Klaire Lockheart.
celebrates Women’s Suffrage with art he 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote in U.S. elections following decades of crusading by courageous American suffragists, will be celebrated in 2020. Her Flag is an inspirational and unique work of art being created by 36 individual artists—one in each state which ratified the 19th Amendment a century ago. Her Flag was conceived and is being coordinated by Marilyn Artus, an Oklahoma visual artist whose work explores the female experience and women’s issues. Beginning this year, Artus will travel the path of ratification, visiting each state in the order of their approval of the 19th Amendment, assembling a massive American flag with 36 stripes. Each stripe is a work of art created by one artist in her home state to be stitched into the monumental flag by the culmination of the Her Flag road trip. The South Dakota stripe was created by Klaire Lockheart and will be added to Her Flag during January, 2020 ceremonies in Pierre celebrating our state’s ratification of the amendment. Lockheart’s stripe, six inches high and 26 feet long, is called “Suffragist Sue.” “My work deals with serious subjects using humor to broaden the audience,” Lockheart said. “I dressed toy dinosaurs as suffragists, complete with sashes, hats and protest signs— eight scenes that stretch six and half feet, repeating four times in the 26 foot length.” Lockheart was careful to choose only dinosaurs whose fossils have been found in South Dakota, and named her stripe after the state’s world-famous T. Rex, Sue. The dino suffragist scenes are silk screened on fabric and stitched together to form the stripe that will be added to Her Flag in Pierre. Lockheart said she answered a national call for artists to become part of the project and was “extremely excited” when she was chosen. She submitted previous work, including her Domestic Sarcasm series, and an artist’s statement and has
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Klaire Lockheart with her printmaking screens.
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experience in printmaking and fiber art. Lockheart views the project as an inspiring and dramatic artistic endeavor. “I didn’t know how big this was until I saw a list of the other artists chosen,” she said. “These are high-achieving, nationally-known artists. I’m proud to be working with them to create Her Flag.” For more information, tour maps and schedules, visit www.herflag.com.
www.ArtsSouthDakota.org
