Pat Reagan's fiber art exhibition inspired by Sept. 11

By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian

Powerful artistic messages about Sept. 11 are being revealed as the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States nears. Pat Reagan didn't set out to create an exhibit of fiber art as a tribute to the victims of Sept. 11. But last Christmas when she started preparing a show for the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, "no matter what, that came out."

The fabrics dyed with familiar images of firefighters and buildings and with the names of some who died hang from the ceiling in an installation meant to be an environment the viewer enters. The fabric is sheer silk. From different perspectives the images merge with each other.

"I wanted layers of meaning, so I wanted transparencies," Reagan says. "I wanted to see through one thing into another."

"Veil of Smoke" opens today at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. A companion fiber art exhibition by Prescott, Ariz., artist Kathyanne White also will be exhibited. White's works are made of cotton, silk, leather, wire, paint and paper. Her fabrics are hand-dyed and assembled.

Both artists will attend today's reception.

When she started making art about Sept. 11, Reagan questioned herself. "I kept asking myself, 'Why are you doing it? What did I have to share?'" she said.

Then she had a realization.

"What I realized was that I didn't feel bad enough," Reagan says. "We all move on and carry on with our self-important lives. Three thousand people died within minutes of each other. More credence needs to be given to that."

But some of the images in "Veil of Smoke" are of Middle Eastern women and children.

"I feel like the victims of all of this anger and rage are the women and children in Afghanistan," Reagan says. "But so many were killed here it's hard to remember that."

Many of the images are taken from nationally distributed photographs. "That event was brought to us through the media," she said.

Reagan checked with a Chicago Tribune attorney to make sure she could use the images. She was told it's OK to appropriate an idea from CNN or Time or Newsweek or National Geographic as long as you're making art.

There are firemen and fires, an image of the Statue of Liberty with two towers behind, and a double image of the Pentagon, where her brother-in-law was working when the attacks occurred.

Some of the cloths are simply filled with names of people who died. Creating these was particularly emotional, for her.

"I would be writing those names and reading stories about them, tributes from their families and friends, and I would be weeping," Reagan said.

Most of the images in the exhibition are figurative, painted on the silk with dye so that they become part of the fabric. A few are more abstract in line with most of her previous work. Reagan is the chairwoman of the Department of Art at Southeast Missouri State University.

The show offers a place to go and remember Sept. 11 and let the transformative power of art do its work. It attempts to summon the spirits of the dead so that the living might learn from them what to do next, the artist says.

"Anytime you grieve profoundly, you really can move on," Reagan says.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

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