A community art work
Using thousands of donated buttons
To represent lives lost

In the weeks following the September 11th tragedy, I struggled to find a way to come to terms with, and understand the enormity of the loss of life that occurred on that day.

My response as a visual artist is to make art. That is how I attempt to sort out larger than life events in this world. So I designed a hand-woven hand-dyed art work that would use buttons to represent the numbers of human life lost on September 11th.

On October 15th 2001 I e-mailed friends, family and colleagues about this art project, in turn these people e-mailed their friends, family and colleagues.

Within 24 hours I had strangers at my studio with handfuls of buttons.
Every day, for almost six months, I received more buttons either in my mailbox or hand delivered. Most packages of buttons came with a letter or note of support, thoughtful feedback and gratitude. Over 8,000 buttons came to my door as a result of this one email.

Over the winter of 2001-02, I designed and wove the 9/11 memorial piece that used over 3,000 buttons from hundreds of donors. The hand-dyed, hand-woven linen cloth that the buttons were sewn onto became a shroud for the lives lost.

In the process of creating this piece I found that people needed a voice, a creative outlet to express their grief and feelings of helplessness. The Button Project became a community art piece with over 25 community volunteers sewing the buttons in a ten-day sewing marathon (that