NINebark. Inc: Eric Fulford and Ann Reed, husband/wife owners of a Land Architecture design studio, continually strive to collaborate with a broad range of artisans, artists, fabricators, and other design professionals in the creation of public spaces rich in imagination and attention to materials. Born in the South, but raised on the West Coast and Fourth Coast, they share a love of creating art, making gardens and cooking in a loft-like home nestled in a mid-19th century French-styled fountain and esplanade sub-division near downtown Indianapolis. Painter, printmaker, and chocolatier, Reed loves the sensual hands-on nature of creativity. Trained as a scientist and fascinated by the hidden stories of archaeology, Fulford, like a writer, invents his own world through design and the understanding of materials.

Piedmont Flag Company: Tom Martin, a vexillologist, researches and sews commission-only, custom-made historic flags for individuals, groups, and re-enactors nationally and around the world.

Artist Statement: Designed by NINebark, Inc., the National Site for the Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial was dedicated on May 28, 1999, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to recognize all recipients of the Medal of Honor, the highest award for valor that Congress and the President of the United State of America can bestow on individuals serving the in the Armed Forces. In 2000, a new addition was made to the Memorial called ‘A Gathering of Flags.’ It represents a selection of the respective American flags that the Medal of Honor recipients and their fellow comrades have fought beneath since the Medal was introduced in 1861.

The Diamond Pattern flag is a 33-star flag, which has flown over the Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial and retired, is a beautiful variation of the traditional pattern of the cross or diamond first seen during the Revolutionary War. This pattern was made famous by the 20’ by 40’ garrison flag that flew over Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor at the time of its bombardment by Confederate forces. That attack in 1861 precipitated the Civil war. The Fort Sumter flag was reinstated at the fort on April 14, 1865, the day Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

The Windblown Star Pattern flag is a 36-star flag, which has flown for over the Congressional Medal of Honor Memorial and retired, is an inspired illusionistic design that tapers the constellation of stars at one end giving the impression that the flag is in motion, even when at rest. The cherished possession of a veteran of the Civil War, and later a pioneering to Oregonian, this whimsical arrangement anticipates the huge array of geometric abstractions precipitated by the Centennial Celebrations of 1876 - 1877.