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Ann Morton is a textile-based artist, educator and social practitioner
living in Phoenix, Arizona. Her work exploits traditional fiber techniques as conceptual tools for aesthetic, social communication to examine a society of which we are all a part — as bystanders, participants, victims and perpetrators. She is driven by a desire to employ her art as a voice for advocacy. The work reflects her own handwork, but also orchestrates the handwork from a variety of community participants through public interventions that seek to harness the power in the act of making for social purpose. BIO After a 35+ year professional career as a graphic/environmental graphic designer, Ann earned her MFA in 2012 from Arizona State University's Herberger Institute - School of Art. Currently, she is a practicing artist and has been an instructor at Arizona State University, Paradise Valley Community College and Mesa Community College in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. |
"US" stacks - Violet Protest, Phoenix Art Museum, 2021
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Aerial view of Ground Cover, downtown Phoenix, 2013
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ReThanks at Arizona Science Center, 2017
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Check out other public interventions organized by Ann Morton:
Violet Protest
Launched in January of 2020, Violet Protest, was a nation-wide public art project that employed hand-made textiles as tools for protest against political divisiveness. The project focused on values we hold dear, rather than specific political or social issues. The color Violet symbolizes the literal combination of red and blue, familiar symbols of our nation’s differing ideologies. Thousands of makers from across all 50 states, contributed 8 x 8-inch squares using a variety of textile processes, in equal parts red and blue. By completion, we collected approx. 13,500 squares made by over 2000 makers yielding 25 squares that were then sent to each member of the 117th Congress. Violet Protest was included on the National NPR - All Things Considered in June of 2021. There's lot's more press and awards for this project - take a look at the website linked on the title above and visit the "NEWS" page.
Ground Cover
Morton's 2013 public art project Ground Cover brought together over 600 volunteers across the US who made 300 blankets. Together, these blankets created a 50 x 116 foot image of desert flowers over a vacant lot in downtown Phoenix. Each blanket was then given to someone experiencing homelessness. This project was recognized with several awards including the Americans for the Arts, 2014 Public Art in Review, and inclusion in the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Placemaking: An Action Oriented Guide to Arts in Community Development, ppg 190-192
ReThanks
In 2017, Morton orchestrated a community project that built awareness of the City of Phoenix's generation of recyclable trash through an invitation to participants to make and offer their gratitude to the workers at 27th Ave. – who touch and sort through this trash each day. Thousands of participating makers crafted individual gestures of gratitude in the form of over 3100 flowers made from their own recyclable trash. The flowers were assembled as a cascading textile-like display that replicated the unending flow of recyclables we generate – but, each flower carried a note of thanks from its maker. After the installation, selected flowers were assembled into gifts and presented to each worker. This project is featured in an online article in:
American Craft, August-September 2017
To see more of Ann's work, visit: annmortonaz.com
Violet Protest
Launched in January of 2020, Violet Protest, was a nation-wide public art project that employed hand-made textiles as tools for protest against political divisiveness. The project focused on values we hold dear, rather than specific political or social issues. The color Violet symbolizes the literal combination of red and blue, familiar symbols of our nation’s differing ideologies. Thousands of makers from across all 50 states, contributed 8 x 8-inch squares using a variety of textile processes, in equal parts red and blue. By completion, we collected approx. 13,500 squares made by over 2000 makers yielding 25 squares that were then sent to each member of the 117th Congress. Violet Protest was included on the National NPR - All Things Considered in June of 2021. There's lot's more press and awards for this project - take a look at the website linked on the title above and visit the "NEWS" page.
Ground Cover
Morton's 2013 public art project Ground Cover brought together over 600 volunteers across the US who made 300 blankets. Together, these blankets created a 50 x 116 foot image of desert flowers over a vacant lot in downtown Phoenix. Each blanket was then given to someone experiencing homelessness. This project was recognized with several awards including the Americans for the Arts, 2014 Public Art in Review, and inclusion in the National Endowment for the Arts, Creative Placemaking: An Action Oriented Guide to Arts in Community Development, ppg 190-192
ReThanks
In 2017, Morton orchestrated a community project that built awareness of the City of Phoenix's generation of recyclable trash through an invitation to participants to make and offer their gratitude to the workers at 27th Ave. – who touch and sort through this trash each day. Thousands of participating makers crafted individual gestures of gratitude in the form of over 3100 flowers made from their own recyclable trash. The flowers were assembled as a cascading textile-like display that replicated the unending flow of recyclables we generate – but, each flower carried a note of thanks from its maker. After the installation, selected flowers were assembled into gifts and presented to each worker. This project is featured in an online article in:
American Craft, August-September 2017
To see more of Ann's work, visit: annmortonaz.com
