Edson's Flag

Object Details

Artist

Marie Watt, born Seattle, WA 1967

Gallery Label

Artist Marie Watt has asked, "What happens when American art includes Indigenous art in [the] narrative? How does that shift the stories we tell about what it means to be American?"

In Edson's Flag, Watt, a member of the Seneca Nation, pays tribute to Indigenous warriors and war veterans, including her great-uncle Edson. She makes a unified piece from pieces that might not seem to fit easily together--a section of patchwork quilt, wool blankets evoking trade-goods (one army-green, one red), and an American flag. Invoking icons of America that are overtly connected to mainstream white culture, she summons an alternate set of associations from these same forms--specifically those related to intergenerational, Indigenous memory.

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Driek and Michael Zirinsky in honor of Jane Beebe and Spencer Beebe

Copyright

© 2004, Marie K. Watt

2004

Object number

2015.28.7

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Decorative Arts-Fiber

Crafts

Medium

American flag (from U.S. military burial) with wool blankets, satin, and thread

Dimensions

130 × 84 in. (330.2 × 213.4 cm)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Renwick Gallery

On View

Smithsonian American Art Museum, 3rd Floor, East Wing

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Object\other\flag

Record ID

saam_2015.28.7

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7b2f91557-7364-488a-a495-e72299a7a472