White Gypsy beer, image snagged from @eirebrews. But that could’ve been my hand!
“A White Gypsy
Sits Beside A Constant Stream
Under A Bi-Polar Sky
With That Broken-Doll Look”
“White Gypsy,” Work in Progress, Hand embroidery on Vintage Linen, 2020 - 2021.
Inspired by the Irish craft beer “White Gypsy,” I wrote this poem in 2016 during Nard's and my month-long residency in Listowel, Ireland. I'm using it as the embroidered text for a Work-In-Progress on vintage linen, which also utilizes a figure drawn from a 2007 painting I made when acrylic was my primary medium. Interesting to note the many ways in which an artist's repertoire gets re-imagined over time.
Figure Study, Acrylic on Wood, 2007.
As with much of my current body of work, I plan to suspend the finished piece as a free hanging form so that both the front and back sides of the stitching are visible. This is a carrying forth of the concept initiated with the “Baby Talk” series I did for my 2019 installation, “I Never Played With Dolls.” The need for considerations of “both sides” is a concept that has been a thing for me over the course of the past four years of deepening societal polarization.
“White Gypsy,” WIP, front side.
“White Gypsy,” WIP, back side.
Installation of “Baby Talk” series, 2019. Hand stitched embroidery on Vintage Linens, waxed and suspended to reveal both sides.
A willingness to view both sides symbolizes my hope for citizens of our country to lean in to characteristics such as respect, acceptance, consideration, and kindness. It also means that during last week's January 6th insurgency on our nation's Capitol, I spent the day with the tv remote control in my hand constantly switching channels, with the intention of viewing disparate points of view regarding the deeper implications of the event. With less than a week until President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration, we are all waiting to see how the politics of our country plays out.
Parallel to this historic moment, I stand here in my studio fussing and fuming over seemingly inconsequential decisions such as how to proceed on this “White Gypsy” piece. Should I wax the entire piece as I did the “Baby Talk” pieces, or should I preserve the softness of the linen and hand stitching by waxing only the center figure. Or, perhaps, no wax at all? After all, once waxed, there's no going back.
“Test” piece to examine how the wax vs no wax looks on linen. You can see the transparency effect upon the waxed fabric and tissue paper image.
Further, I even question myself about the PC of the phrase “white gypsy.” Might some consider combining “white” and “gypsy” an offensive labeling of the Irish ethnic minority group known as “Travellers?” Like many young teen girls of the 1960's, my favorite Halloween garb was dressing in the stereotype of a gypsy woman. The concept of a nomadic, free-from-societal norms gypsy woman was incredibly appealing to a girl seeking to break free from then-current societal expectations that suitable vocational aspirations included careers such as becoming a teacher or a secretary. Thus, in my mind, PC or not, the poetic suggestion of psychic conflict within the concept of a free spirited White Gypsy jives quite compactly within my own very white personal iconography.
I'm curious and open to your feedback on any of these thoughts.