The following text was written in 1995 to describe our experiences at Oklahoma City, amidst the aftermath of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah building on 19th April. We were half-way through our tour of 40 states when we arrived in Oklahoma. Little did we know that our experiences there were about to redefine Tape Art as a healing tool and demonstrate that public artists can play a pivotal role in times of crisis.

The Hope mural
 This was written in letter form and sent to all the people that we had met on our 1995 Tape Art Tour as well as to other supporters of Tape Art. 

With the confidence of two months on the road and the arrival of Struan fresh from New Zealand, we arrived in Oklahoma City prepared for a demanding and frenetic week as performing artists at the 29th Oklahoma City Arts Festival. Little did we realize just what experiences lay ahead. 
    On Sunday April 23, we familiarized ourselves with the buildings dotting the festival grounds which were available for us to use as canvases. We discovered that the whole festival was to be refocused in the aftermath of the bombing of the Federal Building downtown four days previously. Our homework for the evening was to familiarize ourselves with the events surrounding the tragedy so we could be sensitive to the environment in which we found ourselves. 
    Monday brought a deluge of phone calls from the public, prompting the Arts Council to reconsider the appropriateness of staging the festival. The Federal Building was a mere four blocks from the festival grounds and the rescue effort was far from over. The Arts Council made the necessary decision to cancel. 
    As most of the artists departed, we discussed with the council how they could best utilize our stay in the city. It was decided on Tuesday that we would be of most use teaching in schools and taping in the local children's hospital, so we spent the day in meetings setting up these events. We also described our idea for a Hope mural which we proposed to make for the rescue workers. The Arts Council immediately recognized how valuable this piece could be and agreed to secure a suitable site. 
    Wednesday and Thursday we taught Tape Art at two magnet schools, creating school-wide murals loosely based around the themes of renewal and healing. The teachers told us of a balance they were trying maintain with the kids, reminding them of the enormity of the tragedy, but also keeping them busy with activities. We were a welcome addition because we offered the children an outlet to pursue their own projects. 
    Some of the children chose to draw images directly relating to the event downtown. An interesting example of this was a depiction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building being bombed. 
Two girls collaborated on this piece which they described as a "positive out of a negative ... because it made people come together." Later that day, however, we found the girls again working on their piece. It transpired that their drawing had provoked two quite different responses: someone had removed a lot of the drawing, someone else had left a bunch of real flowers, taped below the drawing. Undeterred the girls repaired the damage and talked about the flowers. 
    "Tape drawings on request" were an interesting and rewarding avenue we explored in the Oklahoma City Children's Hospital on Friday. Talk about set yourself up for a challenge! We would not normally choose to depict a clown being chased by bats or a unicorn on a cloud. The pressure to perform was heightened by the competitive addition of the celebrated Dallas Cowboys, who were also doing rounds of the hospital that day.
    Acting as a tool of the children's imaginations, we enabled the children to gain some control over their environment by helping them to personalize their rooms with taped creations. We all enjoyed the one-to-one interaction which allowed us to tailor individual drawings in accordance with each child's ideas. 
    After securing a wall in the Myriad Convention Center, headquarters of the rescue effort, we commenced work on the Hope mural Friday night. Desire to help was our common ground: we were all there one way or another to do what we could towards this end. Energized after an inspiring day at the Children's Hospital and as a gesture to the round-the-clock rescue effort going on around us, we vowed that there would always be at least two of us working on the wall until the mural was completed. Our offering would take the form of a living drawing, growing steadily amidst the constant toiling of the rescuers. 
    The mural attracted people. It seemed to provide a kind of catalyst for discussion. Quite deliberately, we left the mural ambiguous and open to any and all interpretations. People seemed to need an outlet, not a challenge, and many ideas were discussed. A lot of talk centered on the angelic figures, flight and freedom, ascension of spirit, collaboration, heavenward flight, human/angel distinctions. Observers stopped and talked candidly to us and each other, describing both what they thought the mural meant and what they were feeling and experiencing as front line workers at the disaster site. Somehow, we feel their heartfelt tales and insights infused the mural with a kind of poetic expressiveness.
   With mural-making, the mural doesn't "come together" as a completed image until final piece of tape has been laid. In this case, that final coming together took a full fifty-eight hours. To sustain an unresolved image for that period of time was only possible because of the support we received from the people around us. 
    The Hope mural, unlike most all of our murals which are removed within a day, is still up in the now quiet Myriad conference center. By making it specifically for the Oklahomans, it was no longer ours to remove. In the case of the rescue workers who saw it evolve, it became theirs in a way very different from any other "audience" we have previously had. The overwhelming feeling amongst the workers was that it must be left up. As they pointed out, to remove this mural made in a time of loss would create another loss, an even greater vacuum. 
    We were thoroughly inspired by the Arts Council and city residents and honored to have a part in the healing. We felt almost fated to be in Oklahoma at this time, perhaps a little better equipped to deal with the needs of the community as tape artists than would have been the calliope player of the previous year. Thank heavens also for two months of experiences prior to our arrival in the city, many of which stood us in good stead for the unexpected challenges we came across.

   Crikey, what do you say  ... "emotional time had by all?" Just wanted you to know a little of what was a really special time for us. Thanks for your support.
 
Wednesday, August 20, 1997

By Judy Kuhlman - Staff Writer 
   To rescue workers, the angelic mural on the wall at the Myriad Convention Center provided comfort in the days following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 
   To others who saw it, the giant creation told a story of the victims, and the men and women who came from far away to rescue the victims. 
   On Tuesday, the angel-like figures in the mural disappeared one by one as the mural's artists gently peeled off the feathery strips of blue tape artists used to form the mural. 
   "Our murals are meant to be only temporary. We usually remove them within 24 hours. This is the only one we ever left up," said Michael Townsend, one of the artists who created the mural. 
   "We've been told that to most the healing process is coming to an end. It's time it (the mural) was removed." 
   Townsend and Erica Duthie of Providence, R.I., and Struan Ashby of New Zealand came to Oklahoma City in 1995 to participate in the annual Festival of the Arts. 
   "We had no idea, absolutely no idea of what we were driving into. When they decided to cancel the festival, we offered our skills to do whatever they wanted," Townsend said. 
   One of the things the three artists did was create the mural in the northwest corner of the Myriad's Exhibit Hall. 
   When it was finished 58 hours later, the artists named it the Hope Mural. 
   "It gave them (the workers) hope in a stressful situation. The workers would leave. And they knew that this would be here waiting for them when they returned," Townsend said. 
   Duthie said, "They were able to rise above the situation they were in." 
   Most artists say murals tend to create around themselves an environment and a way of relating to life. 		    But the Hope Mural was created by the environment around it, Townsend said. 
   He said there were no preliminary drawings. 
   The mural just seemed to grow out of the stories told by rescue workers, who stayed in the hall after the bombing, Townsend said. 
   "We weren't thinking of angels when we began creating it. It was meant to be a big open metaphor that could be interpreted any way people needed it to be interpreted," Townsend said. 
   The mural begins with people making wings from feathers. In the bottom center, a boy chases a feather floating above him. 
   Farther to the left, the people are attaching the wings to each other. Then the people take flight on the wings. 
   The mural ends at the top right-hand corner of the wall with a small child flying high on his feathery  wings. 
   Since its creation, Duthie and Townsend have been traveling around the country creating other murals. Ashby was unable to return to Oklahoma City with Townsend and Duthie. 
   "This one was special. We keep running into people from  Oklahoma City who have seen  this mural. They give us a big hug. It's been real wild," Townsend said. 
   The tape had been lifted up or removed from some of the  characters. But the mural was  pretty much intact, Townsend said. 
   "I think that is a sign of respect that it has not been tampered with more," Townsend  said. 
   Before removing the mural  Tuesday, Townsend and Duthie repaired it. 
   "We sort of returned it to its Sunday best," Duthie said.     Then they photographed it one last time to preserve the mural and the memories. 
 
   
" ...the arts, to sustain their vigor, must serve substantial human needs.
Those needs are often more conspicuous among the sick and more
conspicuous also are the benefits sick people receive from the arts.
By demonstrating what it can do for the distressed, art reminds us
what it is meant to do for everybody. "
Professor Rudolf Arnheim

See Health Care Anecdotes for a personal view of Tape Art in Hospitals plus an interview with the Tape Artists.