IT'LL BE A BANNER DAY
Denise Duong's Oklahoma stripe will be added Saturday to the “Her Flag” art project
When Oklahoma City artist Marilyn Artus first started criss-crossing the country a year ago to add the stripes to “Her Flag,” she already was looking forward to bringing the elaborate art project back to her home state.
It turns out that quite a bit can happen in a year, especially when a pandemic curtails travel, cancels events and closes landmarks.
“When I first imagined sewing the Oklahoma stripe on, I never would have imagined the state of the world as it is now,” Artus said.
Since 2017, Artus has been working on “Her Flag,” a multiyear, cross-country collaborative art project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Proposed by Congress on June 4, 1919, and ratified
on Aug. 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote.
The 19th Amendment needed to be ratified by 36 states to be adopted, and for “Her Flag,” Artus has been working with female artists in each of those 36 states to create the stripes for the massive artwork.
Oklahoma was the 33rd state to ratify the 19th Amendment, and at 2 p.m. Saturday, Artus will sew her home state's stripe onto “Her Flag” at
a public outdoor event at 1225 N Broadway on Automobile Alley, a site that offers plenty of room for social distancing.
“I am excited to be able to sew Denise Duong's gorgeous stripe outside and have the event open to the public for the first time since COVID19 hit,” Artus said.
Live and in person
Artus' original plan for “Her Flag” was to visit each state, in order of ratification, to sew the stripe devised by that state's designated artist onto the larger flag. Each sewing session was designed to be a real event: While Artus did the sewing, the state artist who created the stripe greeted attendees, and female performing artists such as historians, singersongwriters and dancers entertained the crowd.
But Artus' traveling days suddenly came screeching to a halt in March before she could embark on her 26th sewing trip, as the coronavirus pandemic began to take its toll on the country.
She has sewed on the last seven stripes at her Oklahoma City home while live-streaming on social media. Saturday's OKC event will be her first in-person sewing session since her Oregon event on Feb. 28.
Local poet Kerri Shadid will perform, and historian Sunu Kodumthara will provide insight into Oklahoma's suffrage history on Saturday afternoon as Artus sews on the Sooner State stripe designed by Duong, a popular OKC artist known for her whimsical paintings, drawings, murals and more.
People who choose to attend Saturday's event in person are encouraged to bring a lawn chair and an umbrella for shade. The event also will be live-streamed.
On exhibit
In addition, DNA Galleries will feature a show of Artus' work related to “Her Flag” starting Thursday. The Plaza District shop will have prints of “Her Flag” available for the first time, as well as masks and other items by Artus for sale. In the store window, a replica of the completed “Her Flag” will be on view for the first time.
An opening event is planned for 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday, and Artus will be set up outside DNA Galleries in a tent. Sales from the show will help fund the “Her Flag” project.
Lindsay Harkness, owner of DNA Galleries, said the shop has been slowly getting back to business
since early May, but this will be the first exhibit opening since March.
The gallery will be marked with one-way arrows and social distancing guides, and hand sanitizer stations will be available. People will be encouraged to wear masks. The exhibit will be on view through July 5.
For the exhibit opening, snacks will be provided in personal bento boxes, and tables will be set up outside to curtail crowding inside the store.
“I'm really excited. ... We're trying to move forward in the best way we can while still being cautious of germs,” Harkness said.
“I really don't take it lightly that Marilyn trusts me and my judgment on doing things the best way that we can to still support what she's doing.
... Also, I'm really honored just to have part of `Her Flag' in the store.”