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A Declaration of Conscience (after Senator Margaret Chase Smith) by Tim Rollins and K.O.S.
Photo CreditNicole Avila\GSA
A Declaration of Conscience (after Senator Margaret Chase Smith)
Photo CreditNicole Avila\GSA

A Declaration of Conscience (after Senator Margaret Chase Smith)

Artist
Year2013
Classification painting
Medium watercolor, acrylic ink, vellum, collage, matte acrylic, xerography and rag paper on canvas
Dimensions6 × 16 ft. (182.9 × 487.7 cm)
Credits Commissioned through the Art in Architecture Program
Fine Arts Collection
U.S. General Services Administration
Location

  • Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) are internationally recognized for their collective art practice, which uses literary and historical texts as the basis for their paintings.  Collaborating with local students, Rollins and K.O.S. created A Declaration of Conscience (after Senator Margaret Chase Smith) for the lobby of the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building.  At workshops hosted by the University of Maine Museum of Art in Bangor and the Margaret Chase Smith Library in Skowhegan, Rollins introduced the students to the life, legacy and vision of the late U.S. Senator through an exploration of her historic speech, “A Declaration of Conscience.”  Delivered to President Harry S. Truman and the U.S. Senate on June 1, 1950, Senator Smith’s speech championed a return to basic American principles, such as freedom of expression, and cautioned her fellow senators against the abuse of power and privilege.


    Senator Smith’s trademark was the red rose she always wore pinned to her lapel.  The students who participated in the workshops with Rollins painted their own roses while listening to records of Ella Fitzgerald, one of the senator’s favorite musicians.  To create the finished artwork, Rollins and K.O.S. collaged the students’ watercolor roses over a background papered with facsimiles of Senator Smith’s courageous speech, annotated in her own handwriting.


     


    K.O.S. Contributors:


    Angel Abreu
    Jorge Abreu
    Robert Branch
    Ala Ebtekar
    Eric Fernandez
    Carlos Guevara
    Nelson Ricardo Savinon
    Logan Sedwick 
    Benjamin Volta
     


    Student Contributors:


    Emily Adams
    Casey Britt
    Ryan Britt
    Taylor Britt
    Cassidy Climo
    Calla Collins
    Sydney Cooke
    Benjamin M. Cooney
    Madison Culina
    Marinel Demmons
    William Drake
    Emma Dunn
    Mya Edgecomb
    Oakley Fortin
    Simone Grosswiler
    Grace Hamel
    Joel Hodgins
    Alicia Lam
    Grace Lee
    Iris Lee
    Caitlin Menzies
    Olivia J. Michaud
    Jordyn Miller
    Tara O'Donovan
    Zoe Perkins
    Taylor Randall
    George Smith
    Jessica Spalding
    Kaeley Stewart
    Kyndric Stewart
    Kyle Thibodeau
    Isabella Varisco
    Heron Wagner
    Phoebe Wagner
    Isaac Wardwell
    Mackenzie Warren
    Kylie Welch
    Sadie Wheeler
    Claire Williamson
    Issac Witham
    Emma York