my collages meet my other friends

One of the best parts of this show for me was seeing familiar and new faces meet my work on the wall. It’s just incredibly satisfying to take the art from the studio for a face to face. Thank you Susan Hardesty, curator of Dress Stories, for making that happen!

The artwork is made of collage, from photocopies of vintage postcards pieced together. The process of creating them is bared- tape, tears, smudges in the surrounding paper are part of the work. And it’s left flapping, irregular, undulating.  I didn’t want the images under glass where the texture was subdued. No specimens under glass! Nor did it appeal to me to contain them within a traditional rectangular frame. Immediacy, as though they had just stepped out of the notebook, was important. Female forms in Victorian gowns, each gown made up of unexpected images…from black and white landscapes dotted with sheep, to a man afraid of being goosed….did not want to be prissy, constrained or well behaved.

Also loved hearing the artist’s talks, several of which we may have missed because we arrived late.(Can you imagine getting lost in the wild suburbs of West Norwalk!) Got to hear about motives behind the work, materials, construction, from the artists in a setting geared to stimulate/educate the NCC college art student.

In fact, after hearing some of the talks I decided I needed a sewing machine! What would my highschool home economics teacher be thinking right now if she heard this? Remembering the less than sturdy nightgown I made then,and how the only thing left after I wore it for the first time was the yoke…I’ve already reconsidered my intended purchase as I write this. Stay with traditional I’m thinking… sort of…!