Making America: Reclaiming the Flag Through Art - Fall of Freedom Opening Weekend

There's something powerful about our hands creating the flag. Not just thinking about it, not just talking about it - but actually making it. Choosing the materials. Deciding what the stars mean. Determining how the stripes sit. When the flag feels like it belongs to one narrative or another, what happens when we physically remake it ourselves?

Making America is about that act of creation. Over 30 artists from across the United States have made flags by hand - through paint, fabric, assemblage, collage, sculpture, metal, text. Each one asks: what can this flag represent when I make it? What America am I building?

Why This Matters Now

In a moment when the American flag feels contested - when it's been claimed by some and rejected by others - this exhibition asks a different question. Not "who does the flag belong to?" but "what happens when we all make it?"

This isn't about one definition of America. It's about the act of making. The process of deciding. The conversation that happens when thirty different artists choose different materials, different colors, different ways to represent the same symbol.

Some flags look like they've been through something. Some are pristine and deliberate. Some use words where we expect stripes. Some replace stars with questions. All of them are handmade. All of them matter.

Fall of Freedom: A Nationwide Movement

Making America opens November 21-22 as part of Fall of Freedom, a grassroots movement of artists, writers, performers, and cultural workers defending artistic freedom and resisting authoritarianism through creative action.

Events are happening across the country this weekend - readings, performances, workshops, exhibitions - all asking: what is the role of art in defending democracy? What happens when artists refuse to be silenced?

Fall of Freedom operates on a simple principle: Art matters. Artists are a threat to American fascism.

Not because art provides easy answers. But because art asks questions. Because it makes visible what's been hidden. Because it creates space for multiple truths to exist at once. Because it reminds us that symbols can be remade, meanings can shift, and nothing - not even the flag - belongs to just one story.

Installation shot of "Making America" at Shoebox

Drop-In Community Hours

Instead of a traditional opening reception, we're doing something different. Drop-in community hours over two days where you can come see the work, meet the artists (many will be here throughout the weekend), and have real conversations.

When: Friday & Saturday, November 21-22, 2025 Time: 1:00-4:00 PM PST Where: Shoebox Arts, 660 S Avenue 21 #3, Los Angeles, CA 90031 Admission: Free, no RSVP required Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible, seating available, gender-neutral restrooms

Come for the whole time or just stop by. Bring friends. Ask questions. Look closely at how these flags are made. Talk to the artists about their process. Be part of the conversation about what we're all making together.

The Exhibition Continues

Making America runs through February 8th with several community gatherings to be scheduled. This isn't a finished statement - it's an ongoing process of making and remaking what the flag means.

All artwork is available for purchase:

• 50% goes directly to the artist

• 40% supports Shoebox Arts programming

• 10% donated to Indivisible, a grassroots movement working to strengthen democracy and build local power

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Shop the exhibition

Participating Artists

Adeola Davies-Aiyeloja, Beth Abaravich, Camilla Herod, Caroline Allen, Cathy Engel-Marder, Christine White, Cindy Zimmerman, Conchi Sanford, David Lee, Dellis Frank, Francisca Vergara, Gina M., Jason Hearst, Jovino Bunny, Joy Ray, Kathryn Pitt, Martin Cox, Michele Jaquis, Monica Marks, Natalie Rios and A.S. Ashley, Pam Douglas and Raya Yarbrough, Peter Hess, Ron Hust, Sandra Tamkin, Scott Rolfe, Shula Singer Arbel, Teresa Bernadette, Tricia Buchanan-Benson, Victor wilde, William Ransom, Yumiko Awae and more.

Artists: We Still Have Space

If you've been thinking about submitting your handmade flag artwork, we have room for a few more pieces. Submit here to be part of opening weekend.

Why It Matters

Because symbols matter. Because who gets to define them matters. Because the act of making - with your hands, with intention, with care - is a form of resistance.

Because when we all make the flag differently, we're not destroying what it means. We're expanding it. We're insisting that America is big enough for all our interpretations. That the flag can hold contradiction. That making is more powerful than claiming.

This exhibition is about taking back the flag. Not through arguments. Not through politics. But through the simple, profound act of making it ourselves.

See you this weekend.

For more information: 📧 shoeboxartsla@gmail.com 🌐 www.shoeboxarts.com 📱 @shoeboxarts.la