Quilt
Anna
- Description
- Quilt titled Anna created by Sue Sanders and made with fabric, batting, thread, and paint. This quilt has light blue and peach-colored fabric that looks like a sky with fire (likely painted). Fabric strips in various colors and sizes resemble Ground Zero. At the top of the quilt are fabric letters that read: "New Jersey Task Force One 9-11-2001." On the left side is "ANNA" in red letters. A German shepherd dog, Anna, wearing an American flag bandana, is painted on the left. On the right is the date "Dec 1997 - Jul 2002," with another small painting of a dog.
- Historical Notes
-
Anna, a German shepherd, and Sarah Atlas, her handler, arrived at the World Trade Center site on September 11, 2001. The partners deployed with New Jersey Task Force 1, run by the state’s Office of Emergency Management. Atlas and Anna worked in the search and rescue effort at Ground Zero until September 20.
After the dog’s death in 2002, Sue Sanders, an artist in New Jersey, sewed and painted a quilt in Anna’s memory. Sanders contributed the work to the September 11 Quilts memorial, a public art project created to commemorate the events of 9/11.
Curator's Comment
Inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt, New York City–based arts educator Drunell Levinson conceived a September 11 Quilts Memorial that would bring together the work of artists from around the world. Drawing upon her academic research into mourning customs and her expertise as a quilter and fabric artist, Levinson issued a call for quilts on a website she created for the project. She offered thematic guidelines and requested a uniform size but left the choice of material, style, and subject to each quilter. Within the first year after 9/11, she had received 94 quilts. Over the next two years, the quilts—many using the Twin Towers as a focal point—were displayed throughout the United States and in Japan.
- Accession Number: C.2007.8.18
- Dimensions: 37 in X 6 ft X 0.375 in
- Dimensions (Metric): 93.98 cm X 15.24 cm X 0.9525 cm
- Source: Drunell Levinson
- Credit Line: Gift of Drunell Levinson and of the contributors to the September 11 Quilts Memorial Exhibition
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