Ripple Effect

Dimensions: 62 × 82 inches

Artist Statement: I created Ripple Effect as a recognition of the reality of what is happening in our country. I have placed the names of the 493 schools where shootings took place from 1998 to March 2004 (when I finished designing the quilt) in the background. There have been many more shootings since then. These shootings have an enormous Ripple Effect in our schools and communities. The active shooting drills are causing trauma among the students and teachers. How much longer must we allow this to continue? When will our children be more precious than our guns?

 Technique: First, I created a line drawing of the bullet hole and shattered glass. Then, using Affinity Designer (an app similar to ProCreate), I typed the school names in, one after the other, adjusting them to follow the shattered glass lines. Once this was finished, I removed the shattered glass lines, placed the red words on a black background, and had them printed on fabric.
Once the fabric was printed, I painted the shattered glass lines on top of and in between the words, and quilted the background with two different colors of monofilament thread to achieve the smokey look of the shattered glass. Finally, I quilted the children into the corner.
The children of one of our good friends were glad to participate in this project because they understood why I was making the piece. They were 10 and 7 years old when I photographed them for the piece.

Material: 100% cotton fabric, polyester/wool batting, polyester thread