DIANE DUNWOODIE, artist

The Sandy Hook massacre shook me to the core.  Media reports of shootings, crime and accidental deaths caused by firearms  were all too common and the national discourse around firearms  seemed to be impossibly split and stalled.  I had become  apathetic and  inured to the disturbing reality that lives were being lost every day  from guns in America.  The horror of the slaughter of those innocent children hit me in a personal way that I hadn’t experienced before and I felt compelled to do something to help bridge our country’s polarized opinions around firearms.

But I knew nothing of guns…

So I set out to research and learn all that I could about firearms.  I learned how guns have been part of the very fabric of our American history and  how they  continue to be a part of our American identity.  I was surprised by the sheer volume of guns in many, many of our households, bought for protection, sport, and even simple admiration of the precision instruments that they can be.  I came to know the history and the transformation of the NRA while being shocked by the numbers of deaths that occur every day.  Armed with this knowledge, I decided to explore these issues through art.

Each of the pieces in Up In Arms represents an issue or obstacle I see that contributes to unnecessary gun deaths in our country. (In no way have I exhausted the list of issues.) I’ve used a different medium for each piece to keep viewers interested, engaged, and thinking. My hope is that this exhibit provides an opportunity to put aside our polarized views and focus on saving lives, to bridge the gap between fear of guns and fear of losing the right to own a gun, and to inspire discussion about creating a safer gun-toting America.