This medal is a response to a growing public opinion that our American liberties are being truncated more and more each year. Liberty, foundation of this country, ceaseless deister of the human spirit, ...labeled, conditioned, regulated, abbreviated.

3 1/2"
Cast Bronze Limited Edition of 40
©2010
$200

"I cherish this medal, Abbreviated Liberty, by Heidi Wastweet because it speaks to the cause that I and others in national media have risked our lives for at one time or another--freedom and the public's right to know. In recent years, we have seen the demise of investigative reporting and the rise of celebrity news. The result has been devastating in that we learn of social catastrophes when it is too late to do anything about them (ergo, the muted Lady Liberty). Journalists are charged with afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted; but now, it seems, we comfort the comfortable and do not speak about the afflicted--represented by the censored eagle. This extraordinarily insightful medal reminds us of what we lost and the means to recover it. Art instructs us in this case, and we would be wise to heed and remember the symbolism of Abbreviated Liberty."

  — Michael Bugeja, former national correspondent for United Press International and current Director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, Iowa State University