“And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Isaiah 2:4
While living in South Dakota in 1981 my weekly travels to my job on Cheyenne River Reservation took me past the ICBM fields administered by the Strategic Air Command at Ellsworth Air Force Base. Each missile silo was surrounded by high security fencing prominently displaying the following sign: WARNING restricted area. It is unlawful to enter this area without the permission of the Installation Commander. Sec. 21 Internal Security Act of 1950; 50 U.S.C. 797
Plowshares Project #1 was made by etching a photograph of that sign into a bronze plate. The plate was sawn into bars and each bar was then hand forged into a wrench, ostensibly a disarmament toolkit. In #2 and #3 I worked with artillery ballistics slide rules. In #4 wrapped myself in a a plaster soaked flag. I was thinking about a homeless Viet Nam vet I met in the New York City subway.
