·Art reflects ideals and priorities of individuals and community.
·Art reminds us of heritage and history.
The community art project, Women with Wings, incorporates all of these purposes.
The Women with Wings pilot project resulted in an art installation composed of sculpted winged women on 35 totem-like fired clay towers. The towers were built collaboratively, with women embedding symbols into the towers that represent important aspects of their lives. The winged women were designed and sculpted by Fort Collins’s nationally renowned artist, Lorri Acott-Fowler. The project unfolded in several phases:
Phase 1 – Create
Phase 1 of the Women with Wings project gave diverse women in this community an opportunity to come together and create. During 14 sessions, approximately 400 women pressed in clay, personal symbols – representing who they are, where they come from, and where they’re going. Artist Lorri Acott-Fowler then sculpted winged women, to sit atop each tower. The women who participated were intentionally diverse with the goal of fostering appreciation of the histories of the diverse women represented.
As in any creative endeavor, simply the act of participating is enriching and lasting long after the experience is completed. The stories remain and are told again and again, as the project is displayed in our community. A professional photographer, writer, and videographer volunteered their services to document this extraordinary project To see images of the making of the towers, Click here.
Phase 2 – the Install
The exhbition opened on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at the Hatton Gallery on the campus of Colorado State University. There were the sculpted winged women on 35 totem-like fired clay towers built by the women. The towers, ranged from 4-10 feet in height, and were arranged in small groupings throughout a room inviting visitors to walk among them. Of these 35 towers, 21 were sold.
Phase 3 – Lasting Memories The towers carry symbols of the stories of the women who made them. They will offer us a permanent reminder of who we are and what is important to us in our life and times. Perhaps interesting in the same way that cave paintings invoke curiosity as we view them, visitors can wonder about the lives of the people who created the towers, as well as their shared and different histories.
In the same way that we recognize and honor the histories of the settlers, the Hispanic community, the Native American community, it is important to recognize the women of this community. Often in our tributes to the people of our country, the women are not represented. This was an opportunity for over 400 women to come together, to create a profound work of art, and to say to the world, "I was here and this is my story." These towers are a tribute to the women in our community, who we have been, and what we have done. It celebrates the fact that women have played a role in our community and that we have a story to be told.
The Fort Collins Women with Wings Project serves as a model for this touching, empowering, and inspring project to continue in other communities. We will keep a tower from each community that we visit, then within 10 years, created an exhibition of the Women with Wings towers from around the world. For information about how your community can get involved in this amazing worldwide effort, please contact us.
Financial gifts are welcome in any amount to support the Women with Wings community art project. Make all checks payable to Fractured Atlas, a national 501(c)3 non-profit arts organization.
