Part of the From War to Peace series, Shoreline Sentinels honors the SPARS — the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve. Coastal imagery blends with a World War II recruiting poster to recognize the women who helped to secure America’s shores through communications, logistics, and stateside operations.

Fragments of cold-water coral introduce a present-day environmental thread, suggesting that today’s threats — ocean acidification and warming seas — have supplanted wartime fears of invasion. The piece seamlessly links Coast Guard history, women’s WWII service and coastal conservation.

Materials: Cold-water coral, dollhouse miniatures, World War II recruiting poster, abalone, velvet, paper, photograph, ceramic drawer handle, Murano glass, freshwater pearls, shell

Framing: Archival museum glass in a deep black custom frame by Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.

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From War to Peace (Series)

A collection of miniature, historically grounded narratives tracing a cultural shift that still resonates today. During World War II, women stepped into expanded roles — cryptography, logistics, parachute rigging, radio repair, and more — only to be steered back toward narrowly defined domestic expectations as the war ended.

Drawing on period posters, archival photographs, and symbolic materials, each work juxtaposes wartime competence and leadership with postwar ideals of home and femininity. Intimate and research-driven, the series rewards careful viewing, restores these contributions to the historical record, and reasserts these women as clear role models for later generations.

Steeped in World War II women’s history, the series highlights the roles of both civilian and military women on the home front and beyond.