CONWAY — Arkansans are invited to view a special piece of artwork on display at the Faulkner County Library, 1900 Prince St. in Conway.
Hot Springs artist Barbara Cade calls her artwork Arkansas’ Fallen. It is a tribute to Arkansas soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The 45-by-45-by-4-inch piece was crafted with handmade felt, handmade paper, linen and acrylic. It is a representation of limbs from trees with oak leaves. Names of Arkansas soldiers who have died in the wars are written on the leaves.
“I have been touring the artwork all over Arkansas since 2007,” Cade said. “It has been exhibited in Hot Springs, Texarkana, Camden, Little Rock, West Memphis, Batesville, Pine Bluff, Jonesboro, Van Buren, Harrison and, now, in Conway.”
Arkansas’ Fallen will remain on display at the library until early December.
“The artwork has been hung at each site for about three months,” Cade said. “Every time but one when I changed locations, I added leaves. One three-month segment had no deaths. My intention with the leaves is to keep making them, even if there is no room on the actual piece.”
Cade said her next goal is to find a permanent exhibit space for the artwork.
“We are especially glad to have this piece at the library,” said Ruth Voss, director of the Faulkner County Library System. “I think others would enjoy knowing about it and viewing it. I hope our neighbors will come and see it.”
Cade, who has a Master of Arts degree from the University of Washington at Seattle and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana, specializes in creating sculptural fiber tapestries and artwork for architectural and home interiors.
Since 1985, she has worked as an artist-in-residence in Arkansas schools, most recently in Texarkana and Van Buren. Using weaving, felting or printing processes, her specialty is helping the students create group projects for the school.
Cade’s work has been shown in many juried shows around the nation, including the American Craft Show at the Armory in New York City; the Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition in Bellevue, Wash.; and recently at the International Craft Forms in Pennsylvania. In 2004, she was the winner of the annual scholarship from the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts that she used for a trip to Finland to study felt making. While in Finland, she met many of that nation’s felt artists and gave a workshop at the arts and crafts school in Petajavesi.
Her work can be seen in the 2009 Arkansas Governor’s Calendar. In 2005, she had a one-person show at the Arts and Science Center in Pine Bluff. And in 2007, she showed her landscapes at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, one of which was purchased for the museum’s permanent collection. In September through November 2009, her one-woman show “Search for Serenity” was exhibited at the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Mo., and in February of this year, at the Jasper Art Center in Indiana. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma, Wash.
“It’s hard to say when this piece (Arkansas’ Fallen) started,” Cade said in an artist’s statement. “Maybe it was during the Vietnam War in the late ’60s when I did nothing to protest the war I thought was wrong. I was a young mother with two little children; I was not an activist.
“Maybe it started several years ago when I visited Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. I do not know anyone buried there, but looking at the sea of white crosses made me cry. And I know there are more ‘less’ famous cemeteries around the U.S. — and abroad, for that matter, filled with thousands of people who have died fighting in our name.
“In spite of the fact that television and embedded journalists bring us war on a daily basis, it is a very impersonal event. We see no dead bodies, no public funerals and very few places to even find the names of the deceased. It is a silent war. It is happening to others, not us.
“I guess I’m of an age when I want to make a difference. Protesting this war either standing on a street corner with a sign or writing letters to our president and congressmen seems futile. I needed to do something more positive.
“So, this piece is my attempt to make the war more personal, to make it more public and to honor the soldiers who have died. If you want to know more about these soldiers, go to Sen. Blanche Lincoln’s website. (Scroll down to the topic ‘Arkansas’ Fallen Soldiers,’) There are stories there about these people and how they lived and died. It’s the least you can do.”
Cade added that although Lincoln lost her race for senator on Election Day, “I hope she will continue to monitor the war activity.”