Pamela Bennett Ader
"Legal Vows"

This body of work is in celebration of same-sex marriages.  I believe in love and I believe in marriage.  I also must confess to have had no feeling about the need for these legal marriages until 9/11.  Compounding the horror of the day, I was horrified when I learned that many couples, some of which were life partners, were denied any benefits as surviving mates.  In some cases, unknowing or unfeeling parents did not even include these loved ones in funeral arrangements not to mention the many who were evicted from their homes and questioned about possessions.  So, in celebration of the Supreme Court's decision for the legalization of same-sex marriages, I have created these mixed media vignettes.  With or without the permission of Mattel, my Barbies and Kens are a happy and legal lot.

Pamela Bennett Ader is a long-standing artist and past president of the Phoenix Gallery.