Constitutional Crazy Quilt

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Constitutional Crazy Quilt ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Dimensions: 90” x 70” x 4”
Description: "Crazy" style quilt sewn with reproductions of the U.S. Constitution, bordered by burgundy velvet, GOP appliquéd patches, and charms of tanks, machine guns, coffins, Christian crosses, and soldiers. It hangs from a gold painted curtain rod. The quilt is backed with burgundy jacquard fabric.
Materials: Parchment paper, fabric, metal, and upholstery tassels.

Today, September 17th, is Constitution Day celebrating the day on which the founding document of our nation's laws was signed 221 years ago. It's a relatively new national holiday (only four years old) but no less important than marking the signing of the Declaration of Independence (July 4th.)

"What began as an American experiment - the first constitution created by the deliberation of elected representatives rather than by the force of a single leader - is now the longest-living constitution in the world." - Source (with a quiz)

Ironic that at this very moment in history we have a President and a Vice President who have done more to dismantle the U.S. Constitution than any other in our short years of nationhood.




















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Constitutional Crazy Quilt Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

"The Constitution of the United States of America is the supreme law of the United States. It provides the framework for the organization of the United States Government. The document defines the three main branches of the government: The legislative branch with a bicameral Congress, an executive branch led by the President, and a judicial branch headed Supreme Court. Besides providing for the organization of these branches, the Constitution carefully outlines which powers each branch may exercise. It also reserves numerous rights for the individual states, thereby establishing the United States' federal system of government.

The United States Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787, by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and later ratified by conventions in each state in the name of "The People"; it has since been amended twenty-seven times, the first ten amendments being known as the Bill of Rights. The Constitution has a central place in United States law and political culture." Source

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Constitutional Crazy Quilt Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

The Democratic Party currently holds a majority in the House of Representatives (only since the 2006 election) which they recovered after more than a decade of corrupt Republican rule. Unfortunately the Senate is still held hostage by right wing radicals with only a 51 to 49 margin held by Democrats and a 2/3 majority required to pass most legislation.

Additionally, George W. Bush has already had the opportunity to appoint two conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. The next president will certainly be required to appoint one, perhaps two more judges. Right now four of the nine Supremes are right wingers (Chief Justice Roberts, Scalia, Thomas, and Alito.) Justices Gingsberg, and Bryer are considered the most liberal with Souter and Stevens (moderates) usually siding with them. Kennedy , generally thought of as a conservative is very often the swing vote in many cases - Source.

















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Constitutional Crazy Quilt Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage.

Read the "Contract with America" and see how little of these promises the Republicans have delivered on. In fact for the most part they've delivered the opposite of this pledge they signed back in 1994.


NOTE: You're welcome to share my artwork and comments with anyone you think might appreciate them. But I ask that you give proper credit of these copyrighted works and link them back to this blog. None of this artwork may be used by others for profit of any kind.

Please help spread the link to this blog everywhere you can. This artwork was created for the purpose of making Americans think carefully about the kind of country they want this to be when they vote on November 4, 2008. Do they want a continuation of 8 years of fear, war, division, hate, economic drain, isolationism, and denial of science, climate change, and basic reality? If not, they need to vote for, support, donate to, and cover the back of the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

Midas Touch

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Midas Touch ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Dimensions: 42” x 24” x 8”
Description: A wedge-shaped wall hanging simulates a cliff. A toy gas tanker is about to topple off the edge while a chain of elephants (collaged in the U.S. Constitution, and GOP applique patches) march across it’s back. Oversized soldiers defend the tanker. The strata of the cliff is built up from a mound of soldiers, military equipment, then gas-guzzling automobiles.
Materials: Plastic toys, metal, paper, plaster, wood, gold metallic paint, reproductions of the U.S. Constitution, Republican Party logo patches.

This sculpture was inspired by greed. Like the tale of King Midas recent American history (particularly the period beginning with Ronald Regan era Laissez-faire economics) has focused on personal wealth creation above the enrichment of communities or the nation as a whole.

The Republican anti-tax ideology promotes what they call "small" government which they believe should not interfere with anything business wishes to do in pursuit of profit. For more than a decade now Americans for Tax Reform founder Grover Norquist has been pushing the inaccurate philosophy that the market would be self-regulating and self-correcting, that profits from billionaires would "trickle-down" to middle and lower class Americans and everyone was going to get rich. The result of the realization of this philosophy has resulted in a turn-around from Bill Clinton's term as President (a Federal budget SURPLUS of $559 billion in 2001) to George W. Bush's current Federal DEFICIT of $407 billion in 2008.
















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Midas Touch Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

What happened instead is that greed ran rampant and multi-national corporations became so corrupt that several large firms exploded into ruin. The most egregious case (so far) being the meltdown of Enron Energy Corporation.



























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Midas Touch Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

The Republican Party has been intimately involved in this corruption and in fact lobbyists and lawmakers (via revolving door) from the energy, banking, military, and war reconstruction, sectors have funded the past decade of Republican rule. Today's meltdown of Lehman Brothers is just the latest in a long series of bungled financial schemes right-wing ideology has caused.



























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Midas Touch Detail ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Republican Presidential candidate, John McCain has dozens of lobbyists both staffing and advising his campaign. Yet McCain claims to be an agent of change and a maverick. How the American press can still call him either of these things when he's voted with President Bush more than 90% of the time over the past 8 years is insane.

The Midas Touch sculpture is a warning that we not let the Republican Party drive us all over the symbolic cliff with their greed and refusal to allow REAL change (such as moving away from an oil-based economy.)


NOTE: You're welcome to share my artwork and comments with anyone you think might appreciate them. But I ask that you give proper credit of these copyrighted works and link them back to this blog. None of this artwork may be used by others for profit of any kind.

Please help spread the link to this blog everywhere you can. This artwork was created for the purpose of making Americans think carefully about the kind of country they want this to be when they vote on November 4, 2008. Do they want a continuation of 8 years of fear, war, division, hate, economic drain, isolationism, and denial of science, climate change, and basic reality? If not, they need to vote for, support, donate to, and cover the back of the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

Constitutional Doublecross

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Constitutional Doublecross ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Dimensions: 58.75" x 41.25" x 4.50".
Description: Paper cross mounted on maroon velvet in gold wood frame.
Materials: Wood, shredded of reproductions the U.S. Constitution and relevant newspaper clippings (woven together), velvet, gold paint, GOP logo, glass beads.

I began this sculpture four years ago. I remember that because I sat weaving the cross together while watching the 2004 Winter Olympics on television. Watching young athletes from around the world assemble together without trying to kill each other always makes me wonder why their governments can't get along as well.

America was one year into Bush's preemptive Iraq war, and was bullying the entire world to follow him. His cabinet and staff were busy breaking international laws (and those of human decency) and defying our own historic goals of liberty and justice. I couldn't make sense of why so many self-proclaimed "good Christians" wanted to kill and destroy so much of the world. I still don't understand that enormous contradiction in their ideology.



























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Constitutional Doublecross - Detail of Elephant ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

The inspiration (or revulsion) that inspired this piece was the intentional blurring of the boundary between Church and State by leaders of the Republican Party. This takeover was instigated by so called "neo-conservatives" who were warmly embraced by Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. This group came to absolute power with George W. Bush's presidency in 2001.




















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Constitutional Doublecross - Detail of bottom of cross ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Between 1775 and 1791 Americans conceived, fought for, and established a new nation. This new nation, as Thomas Jefferson explained in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, was based on the proposition that all persons are created equal, that they have inherent natural rights to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness," that "to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed," and that "it is the Right of the People to alter or abolish" any form of government that does not secure the rights of the people.

Although the new Constitution represented the greatest single advance in the long evolution of democracy and freedom, it was viewed by many, including Jefferson, as containing a serious defect, the absence of an explicit bill of rights. Ratification of the new charter of government hinged on the promises of politicians to add a bill of rights to the Constitution as soon as possible; promises carried out by the First Congress, which in 1789 proposed amendments which were ratified by the states by the end of 1791. - Source

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Constitutional Doublecross - Detail with Ashcroft ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

The Constitution they created limited the federal government to purely secular matters. Further, Article VI of the Constitution, in an important departure from colonial practice, stipulated that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." The same article also prohibited mandatory oaths, by providing that all members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches "both of the United States and of the several states" may be bound by either an "oath or affirmation" (italics supplied) to support the Constitution.

Thus the Constitution implies the principle of separation of church and state. - Source

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Constitutional Doublecross - Detail of side ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

This radical right wing takeover of the GOP began decades ago concurrent with the founding and funding of fundamentalist Christian think tanks and mega-churches. The film Jesus Camp does a great job of documenting the mentality of the people on the religious side of this repressive movement, and why they must be stopped from imposing their beliefs on the rest of us.




























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Constitutional Doublecross - Detail of child ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

ACTION

Read more about protecting the boundaries between Church and State in American government:

Americans United

People for the American Way

Americans for Religious Liberty

Interfaith Alliance

NOTE: You're welcome to share my artwork and comments with anyone you think might appreciate them. But I ask that you give proper credit of these copyrighted works and link them back to this blog. None of this artwork may be used by others for profit of any kind.

Please help spread the link to this blog everywhere you can. This artwork was created for the purpose of making Americans think carefully about the kind of country they want this to be when they vote on November 4, 2008. Do they want a continuation of 8 years of fear, war, division, hate, economic drain, isolationism, and denial of science, climate change, and basic reality? If not, they need to vote for, support, donate to, and cover the back of the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

With Us or Agin' Us

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With Us or Agin’ Us ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Dimensions: 52”x24”x36”
Description: Hanging globe on flagpole. (Started in 2003)
Materials: USSR-era paper globe with maps of Texas covering all major land masses, wooden flagpole covered with news headlines about Iraq, noose made out of American flag material, and metal flag holder.

This first piece in my Elephant in the Room series was inspired by George W. Bush’s statement to so-called “coalition partners” (aka “the Coalition of the Willing”). He said: “You’re either with us or against us.” - November 6, 2001

"A coalition partner must do more than just express sympathy, a coalition partner must perform," Bush said. "That means different things for different nations. Some nations don't want to contribute troops and we understand that. Other nations can contribute intelligence-sharing. ... But all nations, if they want to fight terror, must do something."

Bush said he would not point out any specific countries in his speech.

"Over time it's going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity," he said. "You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror."

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With Us or Agin’ Us - Detail of Africa ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Bush said threats by Osama bin Laden to use weapons of mass destruction must be taken seriously. "This is an evil man that we're dealing with, and I wouldn't put it past him to develop evil weapons to try to harm civilization as we know it," Bush said. "And that's why we must prevail, and that's why we must win." - Source

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With Us or Agin’ Us - Detail of the Americas ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

This statement, and hundreds more that followed out of George W. Bush's mouth, showed he is a bully who insists on categorizing complex political issues into black-and-white sound bites. Unfortunately, he was able to use the past credibility of our country, and mountains of cash, to convince a reluctant "coalition of the willing".






















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With Us or Agin’ Us - Detail of the flagpole (Fallujah) ©2008
Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage


The thought that came to my mind was that Bush was trying to turn the entire world into annexes of Texas, and that by leveraging our previous goodwill with the world he had the entire globe in a stranglehold. Therefore, the sculpture has every major landmass covered with maps of Texas and the globe is hanging by a noose made from American flag fabric.






















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With Us or Agin’ Us - Detail of Asia & Europe ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

This was all just fine for an American populace who at the time was more interested in living the good life than paying much attention to current events. Now, however, that has thankfully changed. Americans in record numbers are becoming politically active and the recent Democratic and Republican conventions drew record television viewership. An informed, educated, and angry public is very bad for the GOP's right-wing agenda.



























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With Us or Agin’ Us - Detail of Australia ©2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage


NOTE: You're welcome to share my artwork and comments with anyone you think might appreciate them. But I ask that you give proper credit of these copyrighted works and link them back to this blog. None of this artwork may be used by others for profit of any kind.

Please help spread the link to this blog everywhere you can. This artwork was created for the purpose of making Americans think carefully about the kind of country they want this to be when they vote on November 4, 2008. Do they want a continuation of 8 years of fear, war, division, hate, economic drain, isolationism, and denial of science, climate change, and basic reality? If not, they need to vote for, support, donate to, and cover the back of the Democratic candidate, Barack Obama.

Coming Soon!!!

Detail from Constitutional Doublecross 2008 Emily Duffy Photo by Sibila Savage

Welcome to the site of my upcoming exhibit of mixed-media sculptures. I'll be showing the sculptures themselves at True World Gallery next month, starting October 11, 2008. True World Gallery will be exhibiting this work in collaboration with neighboring Red Arrow Gallery under the title "11th Hour". The dual-gallery exhibit will be located just a few miles from one of the nation's largest Marine bases, Twentynine Palms.

I'm hoping my art will change some minds, and some votes, away from the Republican pro-war policies of John McCain, and toward Barack Obama's withdrawal plans for our troops in Iraq. Our nation simply can't stand another GOP administration!

My exhibit is also part of a national effort by artists who create political work. Art of Democracy is a network of exhibitions and events taking place in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, St. Louis, Puerto Rico, and more locations.

Along with a vast myriad of political organizations, artists all across this great country are pitching in to help save America from continued ruin by radical right-wing politicians.

Please visit my regular BLOG for news and action items. I post there almost daily.