From the exhibition “The Clothes We Wear” (Dec 2021, Kreuser Gallery, Colorado Springs), an installation of 7 suspended vintage baby dresses.
Referencing climate change refugees creating a mass migration of primarily women and children from countries impacted by drought and flood.
Every year, the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water in its manufacturing processes — enough to meet the consumption needs of five million people.
Encaustic, Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 34 x 18 x 20, #04B21. SOLD..
More than 98% of the 30.7 million new displacements in 2020 were the result of weather-related hazards such as storms and floods.
Encaustic, Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, Thread, Wire, Hand Stitch. 13 x 14 x 12, (+12”descending threads) , #16D21. SOLD.
Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, encaustic, hand waxed threads, hand stitched embroidery, wire, 13x15x12 (+ 16” descending threads), #52H21. SOLD.
Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, encaustic, hand waxed threads, hand stitched embroidery, (couching), wire, 16x11x11 (+24” descending threads), #53H21. SOLD.
Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, encaustic, hand waxed threads, hand stitched embroidery, wire, 18x15x14, #57H21. SOLD.
Reclaimed Vintage Baby Dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, encaustic, hand waxed threads, hand stitched embroidery, (running and french knots), wire, 15x10x13, #58H2. SOLD.
Reclaimed vintage baby dress sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, encaustic, hand waxed threads, hand stitched embroidery, wire, 15 x 15 x 12 (+ 25” descending threads), #59I21. SOLD.
Figurative custodians composed of hardened wax shells, the Keepers series originated as a guilt-ridden approach to justify all of the online shopping that occurred in our household during Covid's staying in period. How could I transform the plentitudes of plastic packing pillows into something artful?
The early Keeper's appearance is dominated by hard-edged demarcations between black and red. But as the meditation of making dozens of multiples progressed, descendants of the original Keepers mutated form as corners lengthened into ear-like appendages, and their coloration evolved into painterly mixtures of black and red. Perhaps these ensuing generations of Keepers are successfully embracing their cultural and racial diversity, disregarding external trappings that may include The Clothes We Wear.
Eleven Keepers linked as a vertical ceiling to floor sculpture, 96 x 14 x 14. #66I21. SOLD.
Thirty individual Keepers comprise the floor level assemblage. Each keeper averages 8 x 5 x 3. Gallery attendees are invited to touch, hold, or reorganize the floor level Keepers.
Encaustic, Deconstructed Chenille Bedspread, Sewing and Embroidery Threads sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, Hand and Machine Stitch. #62I21. SOLD.
Three Table-top Keepers, ascending height, each mounted on metal rod secured in worn brick bases. 20 x 4.5 x 4, 23 x 5.5 x 4, 27 x 9 x 4. (#63I21, #64I21, #65I21). Available.
Inspired by bike rides along the Midland Trail in Colorado Springs. When the trail dips low along Fountain Creek, signage warns: “In case of flooding, climb to higher ground.” With the global rise in temperatures and water levels, coastal cities will soon be underwater and many will be migrating to higher elevations.
And speaking of water, every year, the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water in its manufacturing processes — enough to meet the consumption needs of five million people.
Deconstructed Men's Muslin Shirt, Sewing and Embroidery Threads sourced from Who Gives A Scrap, Encaustic, Hand carved block print on Tissue paper, Hand stitching. 40 x 9 x 1 #36F20. SOLD at Kreuser Gallery, Colorado Springs.
Inspired by the original garment tag which reads: “Assembled in Mexico of USA Components.” Emblematic of the outsourcing of our American garment industry after the 1994 NAFTA came into effect.
The nature of today's fashion industry is to discard and replace; in the United States, a staggering 85 percent of our textiles go to the dump each year; the equivalent of one garbage truck of clothing burned or dumped in a landfill every second. These free-hanging sculptures seek to re-envision and re-purpose articles of clothing that might otherwise end up in landfills.
Encaustic, Thread, Linen, Deconstructed St. John’s Bay Men’s T-Shirt, Wire, Hand Embroidery. 36 x 10 x 6, #41H20. SOLD.
Only 10% of recycled clothing gets re-sold. The rest goes mainly to landfill. And, as exemplified by this article of clothing I rescued from Fountain Creek, some of it goes into our lakes, rivers, and streams.
More than 60 percent of fabric fibers are now synthetics, derived from fossil fuels, so if and when our clothing ends up in a landfill (about 85 percent of textile waste in the United States goes to landfills or is incinerated), it will not decay. Nor will the synthetic microfibers that end up in the sea, freshwater and elsewhere, including the deepest parts of the oceans and the highest glacier peaks.
Reclaimed Victoria's Secret Woman's Tank Top, Thread, Hand-embroidered, Encaustic, Stick. 23” x 44”. SOLD.
Inspired by a paragraph from “The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath.” So often judged and juried by The Clothes We Wear, Fragile Armor depicts the vulnerability females encounter with regularity while navigating a male-centric world.
“Yes, my consuming desire is to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, barroom regulars—to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording—all this is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always supposedly in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes, God, I want to talk to everybody as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night.”
Deconstructed St. John's Bay Men's T-shirt, Lace from Deconstructed Woman's Blouse, Encaustic, Knotted String, 24 x 26 x 5, #61I21. SOLD.
A discarded woman's skirt morphs into a lampshade-like four-sided suspended sculpture. Hand-embroidered cursive on opposing sides reflects the dilemma faced by migrants who must make heart-wrenching choices between staying in the homeland they love versus facing the dangers of crossing borders to seek physical safety or a viable livelihood for their family. A reminder that people do not just pick up and abandon the place they've lived for generations without cause.
Lining from Reclaimed, Deconstructed St. John's Bay woman's skirt, Found fake-flower petals from Marsha P Johnson Community Park, Brooklyn, Threads from Who Gives A Scrap, Encaustic, Hand and Machine stitch, Wire, Purchased Light Fixture.
20 (51 including descending threads) x 18 x 11, #01B21. SOLD.
SOLD.
Side panels: hand-embroidered woman with face buried in hands. Small print embroidery at the top repeats the clothing label “Made in Bangladesh” in English and Spanish, emblematic of the juxtaposition between Fast Fashion's makers and consumers.
Northern Cheyenne Native American (1844 – 1879) Buffalo Calf Road Woman is documented as having fought at the Battle of Little Bighorn. There she fought alongside her husband Black Coyote. In June 2005, the Northern Cheyenne broke their more than 100 years of silence about the battle. In a public recounting of Cheyenne oral history of the battle, tribal storytellers spoke of how it was Buffalo Calf Road Woman who had struck the blow that knocked Custer off his horse before he died in the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
From the “Pocket-Keep” series, part of the upcoming exhibition “The Clothes We Wear” (Dec 2021, Kreuser Gallery), an installation of six 2-sided suspended sculptures, averaging 23 x 12 x 4.
Initiated as forms to conceptualize the secrets we keep pocketed from ourselves and others to protect our cultural and personal identities, as the series developed, each Pocket-Keep voiced an individual call for recognition.
Historically, women have contributed substantially to humanity's advancements, but have been systematically secreted away, absent from our HIStory books. Wordless writings on Side 2 of each Pocket-Keep tell these secreted stories of Women lost to history.
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Tree Twig, Hand and Machine Stitch. 22 (36 with threads) x 12 x 4, #05B21. SOLD at Kreuser Gallery, Colorado Springs.
Reverse side. SOLD.
Eunice Newton Foote (1819 – 1888). In 1856 published “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of Sun's Rays” at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, three years before the Irish physicist John Tyndall published his paper on heat-trapping gases. The male scientist, Tyndall, is typically credited as the founder of climate science. Foote was also a women's rights campaigner who signed the 1848 Seneca Falls “Declaration of Sentiments.”
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 23 (36 with threads) x 12 x 5, #06B21. SOLD.
Reverse side. SOLD.
Alexandra David-Néel (1868 – 1969). She is most known for her 14 year expedition through Asia to the forbidden city of Lhasa, Tibet, to “show what the will of a woman can do.”
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 24 (+ 22” descending threads) x 12 x 4, #07B21. SOLD.
SOLD.
Constance Baker Motley (1921 – 2005). A key strategist of the civil rights movement, Motley was the first Black woman to be elected to the New York State Senate and in1966 became the first Black woman to be appointed as a Federal judge.
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 24 x 12 x 3. #26E21. SOLD.
SOLD.
Marsha P. Johnson (1945 - 1992)
Before the Netflix documentary brought Johnson's story to life with the documentary, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson by David France, many people were unfamiliar with the influential role she had on drag and queer culture. Johnson, a Black transwoman and activist, was at the forefront of the LGBTQ movement. In addition to being the co-founder of STAR, an organization that housed homeless queer youth, Johnson also fought for equality through the Gay Liberation Front. There is a community beach park in Brooklyn named for Johnson.
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 29 x 20 x 5. #25E21. SOLD.
SOLD.
Frances Perkins (1880 – 1965). The first woman to serve in a presidential U.S. Cabinet, she was FDR's Secretary of Labor and was the driving force behind developing a policy for Social Security in 1935.
Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, Thread, Wire, Hand and Machine Stitch. 27 x 12 x 7. #27E21. SOLD.
SOLD.
November, 2020. I cleaned my studio and this vid shows the cloth, thread, and encaustic works in progress for my upcoming solo exhibition scheduled for December 2021 at Kreuser Gallery.