<![CDATA[ann morton - NEW WORK]]>

<![CDATA[ann morton - NEW WORK]]>Wed, 13 May 2026 15:41:53 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Hook, Line and Sinker at Mesa Contemporary]]>Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:59:13 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/hook-line-and-sinker-at-mesa-contemporary

Ann as fisherman, age 9

One of 12 in the Lure Collection: "Perfect Topper Swimbait"

Drawing from the joy of my childhood memories of fishing every summer in Oak Creek Canyon with my Dad, this new work employs that joy as an act of resistance to the overwhelming civil discourse inflamed by this newest presidential administration.

Inspired by a curious mix of childhood fishing memories and social commentary, the work created for this show uses the materiality of fishing line, hooks and sinkers, combined with assorted detritus employed in hand weavings and lure-like assemblages. The graphics of nautical warning flags and imaginary fishing lures are metaphorical nods to the lures and navigational challenges we all experience as human beings and what, especially in today’s culture, we are willing to swallow
“hook, line, and sinker”.

This solo exhibition is shown by Mesa Contemporary at Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, AZ - February 13th - June 28th, 2026.

]]><![CDATA[Toward 2050 - on view until June 1, 2025]]>Sun, 16 Mar 2025 23:01:58 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/toward-2050-on-view-until-june-1-2025

After two years of working to bring this project to fruition, the Toward 2050 project is installed and is receiving thousands of visitors - until June 1st, 2025. Nearly 650 makers from 46 U.S. states and DC, and 9 countries created textile flags celebrating their favorite aspects of the environment. Included in the project was mailing postcards to lawmakers advocating for Climate Change policy to be considered in every sector of legislation, this huge labyrinth installation, and finally the flags will be re-purposed into blankets that will be given to communities suffering from future climate related catastrophe(s). To see more about this project, you can visit www.toward2050az.com, or visit the Toward 2050 project under "Portfolio" on this site.

]]><![CDATA[31 over 110]]>Wed, 17 Apr 2024 21:17:40 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/31-over-110

Handwoven linen, cochineal dye, cactus spikes, found object

The summer of 2023 in Phoenix, Arizona was a record-breaker. Even for a native Phoenician like me, it was brutal - 31 consecutive days spiking over 110° F. There would be more before we’d emerge from those endlessly hot summer days. With each event like this, no matter where you are on planet earth, it is further proof that climate change is real, in force, and building. Our days are numbered.

This piece was included in the exhibition, Saguaroland: Mapping the Sonoran Desert, staged at Changing Hands Bookstore in Phoenix. Artists were asked to create an expression of how they are co-existing with the desert environment in Arizona - especially as the summers grow ever more searing.

The piece was also included in the juried show, Modern Makers and Materials in Spring of 2024 at Shemer Art Center, Phoenix.

]]><![CDATA[New Call for Makers!]]>Wed, 08 Nov 2023 16:18:52 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/new-call-for-makers

Toward 2050, a public engagement artwork, will culminate in an immersive labyrinth installation at Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona - February through May of 2025. The Garden's ongoing commitment to advance excellence in education, research, exhibition and conservation, makes it the optimal location to orchestrate this artistic, social action that focuses ont he urgency of how we must take part in caring for our planet's health. As visitors experience this labyrinth that makers for across the US and beyond help bring to fruition, they will step year-by-year, ever closer to 2050, humanity's target to achieve net zero in CO2 emissions. To learn more about the project, or to sign up to be a participant, visit the Toward 2050 website.

]]><![CDATA[Sorted, packaged and the Violet Protest is sent off to Congress!]]>Tue, 07 Dec 2021 19:28:57 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/sorted-packaged-and-the-violet-protest-is-sent-off-to-congressOnce the exhibition of the Violet Protest came to an end, the work of sorting, packaging and getting all the bundles ready for their trip to every member of Congress began! Housed in a huge empty space at Park Central, tables for every state were set up, and squares were sorted by state. Boxes for each lawmaker were prepared, and over 50 volunteers worked on gathering the squares to fill the boxes with 25 squares for every member of Congress. Hand written lists were made of the makers' names, city and state were painstakingly recorded and included in each package. In addition a color brochure, a letter from the project, and 4 letters from makers across the US were tucked into each box.

For a complete photo gallery of this effort, visit the Violet Protest website/About and scroll to the bottom. But here are a few shots of the process.

Bonnie Lasson works on list of makers in each box.

Ann Morton - truck is loaded and ready to go to the USPS.

]]><![CDATA[Violet Protest at Phoenix Art Museum]]>Tue, 07 Dec 2021 19:16:34 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/violet-protest-at-phoenix-art-museum

The Violet Protest enjoyed a wonderful run at the Phoenix Art Museum from March 10th - September 5th, 2021. There was a surprising energy in the room that elicited gasps, tears, and expressions of amazement by so many of the visitors that I was able to meet during my bi-weekly knitting sessions throughout the show.

Opening with about 9500 squares on view, the show closed with over 13,000 added to the "US" over the course of the show.

The show was so popular, we developed VP products for sale in the Museum Store for visitors asking to take home a memento of their experience with the Violet Protest.

For a complete gallery of exhibition photos, visit the Violet Protest website/About.

]]><![CDATA[Violet Protest tops 10,000 squares! Deadline extended to August 1, 2021.]]>Thu, 15 Oct 2020 17:22:00 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/violet-protest-tops-10000-squares-deadline-extended-to-august-1-2021

The Violet Protest is reaching out all across America and beyond! Right now the project has 10,767 squares committed from 1393 makers in all 50 states and Canada. With deadlines extended due to the pandemic, squares will be accepted until August 1, 2021 - that means we have a good chance of making our goal of 50 squares for each and every member of the 117th Congress! (which means 50 squares x 535 members = 26,750 squares!!) Let's do this!

]]><![CDATA[The Violet Protest]]>Sun, 21 Jun 2020 19:57:21 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/the-violet-protestAs a result of receiving the 2019 Arlene and Morton Scult award for mid-career artist at Phoenix Art Museum, the Violet Protest was launched on January 15, 2020. At that time, the project was slated to be exhibited in September of 2020. Once displayed, the collection of squares would be divvied up between each US Representative and Senator and sent to the new 117th Congress early in 2021. Of course, our country was hit with the Coronavirus pandemic, and so, as of now, the show is re-scheduled for Spring of 2021, with the squares slated for sending off in late 2021.

From the project website:
The Violet Protest is a public effort to send 50 hand-made textile squares to each and every member of Congress in support of these core American values:

• Respect for the other
• Citizenship
• Compromise
• Country over party and corporate influence
• Courage
• Candor
• Compassion
• Creativity

Whether we knit, crochet, quilt, or embroider all 26,750 of these squares — through this social action, and from every corner of America; we as makers of all political persuasions, believe we can employ our willing spirit and our talents to contribute to healing divisions that threaten our country. This collection of textile squares will be first displayed at Phoenix Art Museum,
in the Spring of 2021, before they are sent to the new 117th Congress by late 2021.

Focused on the values we hold dear as Americans, rather than any political beliefs, the color violet symbolizes the literal combination of red and blue, long held as symbols of our nation's differing ideologies. Our common goal is to send a physical message of friendly protest through this colossal visual expression to demonstrate that if we as citizens are willing to come together, so then must our elected officials.

So much has shifted in our country during the span of this project - the pandemic, the justifiable uprising over police brutality against our black citizens. It has hardened the resolve of some makers, and overwhelmed others. But the project persists, and has taken on so much more meaning and depth as people grapple with how to respond, how to speak and how to participate.

There is so much more to unfold, so hold on, the ride could get bumpy - but we are in it together.

Follow the project at:
www.violetprotest.com
www.facebook.com/thevioletprotest
@thevioletprotest
www.ravelry.com/groups/the-violet-protest

Woven squares by Linda Shinn, Wilmington, Delaware.

]]><![CDATA[Postponement - everywhere!]]>Sun, 21 Jun 2020 19:34:09 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/postponement-everywhereWell - this post is late in the game, but our "What Can I Say?" show was cancelled for the March 20th opening. That week was the week when all s_ _ _ broke loose - one day it was no more than 50 people together and the next, it was no more than 10. Monday the 16th of March, I was all ready, car packed and heading down to Modified to install. A year's work, ready to go up and be shown! And then the text came, just as I was getting my keys out to start up the car. . . . Well - we've all been through so much since then. It feels like another lifetime ago that we could even think of an opening night, a full gallery of people shaking hands and hugging each other.

As of today, we are planning to "open" the show the third Friday in September. But openings will not look the same - at least for a year or so. Modified Arts is still waiting to see what the proper protocol should be, but even if we arrange a "by appointment only" the work will be shown - and at this point, we think it will be in September, thru October. Stay tuned.

US | THEM - Vintage Morton family table cloth, acrylic, embroidery

]]><![CDATA[Working on "What Can I Say?" with Chris Jagmin and Safwat Saleem]]>Fri, 03 Jan 2020 16:42:36 GMThttps://www.annmortonaz.com/new-work/working-on-what-can-i-say-with-chris-jagmin-and-safwat-saleemLast year, Chris, Safwat and I started thinking about what a show together might be about. Since we all come from our own "margins", we have thought about how hard it is to express our thoughts, opinions and perspectives about a variety of current socially relevant issues. A brief description of the show:

"It’s true that we all belong to our tribes and yet, most of us feel like we don’t belong. How can this be? Is there any room to talk, to listen, and to build our circles of belonging? Our voices can’t begin to examine every American experience but this exhibit offers our uniquely personal American experiences of fears, personal marginalization, complicity, memories, anxiety, love, humor, and our expressions of humanity. Our stories examine and question our simultaneous roles of colluding with our systems and being exploited by them."

I’m not an innocent bystander. It seems these times have outed a racial divide that has simmered under the surface for centuries, in this, the land of the free and home of the brave. Of late, I’ve felt called to look at the roots of my own white privilege. What cues and assumptions indoctrinated my own habits as a person born with white skin?

I began to think about the invisible, insidious cues that were planted in my early life. What were the subtle messages that were ingrained in my own psyche - all working to assure the maintenance of our hold on the white structure in this country. I began to think about words that I grew up with - rhymes, lyrics, pledges. I thought about images in my own home - food packaging, table linens, religious icons - innocently employed, but damaging all the same.

The work I'm creating for this show attempts to visually layer these cues - mimicking the confusion of these impressions that still float around in my mind and body.

"TRESPASSES" - Vintage family embroidered cloth, new embroidery

Work in Progress - "WHITE WASH" - Hand carved Ivory soap, vintage family table cloth, new embroidery

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