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New Work Using the emotional response to quilts as a stepping-off point, I build on the traditional characteristics of texture, color, and pattern by rejecting nothing that it occurs to me to add. I treasure the tactile allure of fiber and its strong connection to the past, while pushing the quilt form to another level of utility....that of a personal, passionate voice. SO new, they're barely finished! See... Current work in progress Monster Teeth & Saw Blades (Chomp, Chomp, Chomp) (c)2004, 49.5 x 61.5 Hand-pieced Thousand Pyramids morphed into something else when I placed the cool colors and warm colors base-to-base to form diamonds. I began to see sharp things (the title) and imagined they chomp off bits of color which shoot off to the sides. After the Rain (c)2003, 63 x 53 Debut of this vertical landscape was in "Life Forces: Contemporary Fibers" Robert A. Peck Gallery, Central Wyoming College, Riverton Also: American Quilter's Society Show, Paducah, KY and "Power for Change", MAQS Proof Thro' the Night (c)2002 Mary L. Hackett This quilt does, indeed, express my "passionate voice"! After resisting several calls for artwork relating to the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, I succumbed to the most personal request, by my local quilt guild. Perhaps feeling timid about finally expressing my confusing emotions about those events; perhaps waiting for my responses to gel...for whatever reasons, I had been collecting text and images, and a variety of flag lapel pins, but I had not put into action my ideas about the first piece I would make on the issue of war. "The Star-Spangled Banner" was printed on a card accompanying return address labels I recently received from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. One of the lines seemed to allude to the fact that only during times of national emergency do we realize our reason for being is "still there". The "rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" give the illumination we need to see clearly that our purpose, our mission, can only be maintained through unity behind the ideals of our founders: liberty, justice, perseverence. Peeling the top layer of paper from that card, I fused it to the back of the quilt, along with an identifying label. Now that I have opened a painful door with "Proof Thro' the Night", I feel more able to address a whole range of ideas I have been mulling over, under the title of "Ready or Not....Beginnings of War for America". I envision a series of sorts which will address all kinds of conflict in the history of our country, and perhaps even the more personal topic of conflict among individuals. Detail, Proof Thro' the Night, (c) 2002 Mary L. Hackett This piece was seen as part of the Shawnee Quilters "Patriotic Challenge" exhibit in the Edward Jones offices of John Forbes, Carbondale, IL; and in the First Annual Professional Art Competition, "Arts In Action", Paducah, KY All contents © 2002-2004 by Mary L. Hackett. No use except by written permission, all rights reserved.