Featured Artwork
America The Beautiful
This redesign of the American flag is inspired by Katharine Lee Bates' 1893 poem
Pike's Peak, which later became the popular anthem
America the Beautiful. The visual elements of the flag are inspired by the imagery that Bates describes in the first stanza of the poem. The symbolism is as follows:
1. A navy blue field at the top:
“beautiful for spacious skies”
2. A golden wave at the bottom
“amber waves of grain”
3. Two purple triangles for
“purple mountain majesties”
4. Wavy red stripes in the center for
“fruited plains”
(Bates was describing a fertile Colorado valley of apple and cherry orchards)
5. Two navy blue triangles on the left and right edge for
“sea to shining sea” (the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans)
6. One additional element is the circle of 13 stars in the canton (upper left hand corner). This is to symbolize the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which ended slavery in 1864. This circle of stars is also a reference to Betsy Ross’ iconic US flag of 1777.
I consciously left out any symbolism referencing the 50 states of the United States. I did not want this design to exclude the residents of U.S. Territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands etc.).
Flags and flag design are a huge part of my life. I designed the official flag of my city (
Bellingham, Washington) in 2015 and was subsequently hired to redesign the flag of Olympia, my state’s capital in 2018. I have multiple ongoing flag redesign projects for the city of Seattle and Washington State (both unofficial). Thanks for taking the time to look over my flag design and its meaning.
