Eating off the pea pods

I made this table in a materials and techniques course based on wood. It is approximately four feet long, eighteen inches wide, and thirty inches tall. It's made of poplar, and is stained green.

The evolution of the artichoke flower

This motif came from cutting an artichoke, and stamping with it, using black acrylic paint. The motif was developed through drawing.









I then used the motif as an element in the above patterns and colorways. These repeat patterns were designed using CAD for textile design (Texcelle). They are a mild southern gothic tale for cloth, and I had the opportunity to tell the story in its proper medium (as seen below).




The shirt is a readymade. I distressed the fabric with bleach, and mixed the pigment of the print to match the lighter parts of the shirt, while reverse appliqueing a crochet rose window on the front, and secure holes on the back. I wanted to bring to life the concept in the CAD designs, and give this shirt the used and ethereal appeal that can be seen in the south's familiarity with, but often blind eye towards religion: a fable beautiful in tradition and intention.

Apron/Aproff

This apron is made of cotton muslin, hand-dyed with natural and synthetic dyes. I created the motifs on the fabric using traditional tie-dye methods such as: clamp resist immersion dyeing, arashi shibori, and crumple resist immersion dyeing. All of the fabric, except for the ruffle ties, was dyed in the same synthetic rose colored dye, and then the two packets were over-dyed for different amounts of time in the same vat of royal blue, synthetic dye. The ruffles were arashi shiboried in a vat of natural osage orange dye, with a few seconds in the royal blue vat.

Woven Lace Flapper Dress

This dress, designed in the fashion of a 1920s flapper dress, was hand-woven on a floor loom. Using linen, in the colors of gold-wheat, and white, I wove a two yard piece of fabric using the brooks boquet lace weave, with plain weave. I then carefully cut and pieced the fabric to create the garment above.

Disco Dancing Robot...Skirt

This is one of my first complete projects. I can be obsessive compulsive about process, and in the vein of The Little Skeleton, drafted the pattern, hand dyed the fabric, hand sewed the skirt,and hand embellished the narrative. With the intention of creating a subtle disco ambience for the fabric, I used potato dexterin with the base purple dye, followed by an immersion dye in teal. I then embellished the sequined disco ball, and appliqued and stuffed the robot (for dimension). This piece was created for the final project in Embellished Surfaces (spring 2005).

Portraits

These books are made from the covers of old Reader's Digest story collections, vellum lace, vintage ornaments, paper, and ribbon. They are hand bound with various stitches, including (from top left, bottom left, then to the right in the second picture) buttonhole, accordion, buttonhole, coptic, coptic dos a dos, and coptic again. They are simply blank books, meant for precious thoughts. The materials and method for binding specific to the individual book were inspired by the charm it is portraying. These charms were mostly given me by someone I was close to and who knew my appreciation for the sweet and precious.

detail from my favorite

The Little Skeleton

The Little Skeleton began as an assigment based on Frida Kahlo's life and work. I was influenced by elements of her culture, life, and art. The pictures above are the beginning of what became a long, but quite fluid process. To the left, is a section of the scarf that was influenced by Frida Kahlo's life and work. The colors of the cloth are vibrant, and feminine. The image is dia de los muertos-esq, and ethereal in the vein of Kahlo's imagery. The fabric is hand-dyed silk charmeuse. There are two sides to the scarf, as seen in the picture above to the right. The front has the print on it, and the back is solid fuschia. The picture to the right is of the critique for this project, during which it was suggested that I use this character to develop a story. Stubbornly, I denied my affinity for writing. I wished I could be such an artist that never needed to say what she meant about what she did...


Eventually, telling the little skeleton's story became the obvious answer to a difficult question: How do I make my computer art final tangible? I wanted a narrative, and had almost forgotten that it was pretty much laid out for me. Having just been to deserted Coney Island in the dead of winter, I had a perfect setting, and the story just flowed into it. The above images are the preliminary ideas for the finished little skeleton. They are reverse applique, and applique, embellished, and hand bound covers. The following images were laid out in photoshop before becoming the tactile, finished, The Little Skeleton.





The following are images from a sort of thumb-nail sketch I executed before going into making The Little Skeleton. Luckily, I improved upon what became muddied colors and indistinct blocks of color in this project in the final product.


























Finally:

The character of the Little Skeleton is the concept of death in a child's mind, unaddressed. He is solemnly carefree, evasive, morbid, cautiously playful, and innocent of all of the aforementioned.

The pages of the book are made from natural fabric (all cotton: muslin, cheese cloth, waffle, canvas). They are hand-dyed and hand screen-printed with original illustrations and text. The pages are collaged together using applique techniques and a sewing machine, all bound with pigskin leather. The cover is reverse appliqued, and hand-embellished.