Armscyes

Photo Credit Bill Burlingham

Orphaned Fragments: the dissection of particular parts where two things intersect.

This is a series of stitched drawings that I'm developing from my understanding of the armhole as a dressmaker.  It is my closer investigation of the technique of sewing a set-in sleeve, and on the word "armscye" itself.  I was fooled by the word for the first decade of my dressmaking as I was mastering the technique, because most dressmakers refer to and pronounce the opening as "arm's eye."

I'm making these drawings from deconstructed fragments of the armhole, with attachments to other parts pulled from seam allowances.  My drawing process provides a way for me to consider both the construction technique and the devolving of the word "armscye" from etymological fragments.  The dictionary does not provide a clear trace of meaning, nor is it clear that these are drawings of the armhole.

A set in sleeve looks effortlessly beautiful on the outside--a curved arch that holds space for the arm's mobility--however the inside reveals the awkward, imperfect hand work needed to ease the relationship between the sleeve and the armhole.  I'm most interested in these imperfections found on the inside that trace the work of the human hand. I'm purposely distorting the standard pattern technique to balance the arm hole, repeating the compositional format with different results.

Armscye 1 and 2 for ARTwork 6
January 19 - February 1, 2013

In Ridicule Of Spectacle

Experimental Sound Studio: Project Space, February 2009
 
This was a performance, drawing session, and photo shoot to bridge the disciplines of art and dressmaking through the act of modeling.  To develop this piece, I investigated the idea of being tarred and feathered, the alchemical symbol of the blackened mirror, and butoh performance images.  The  visual narrative took on a textural layer with writer Sara Levine's prose poem "In Which the Seamstress Speaks."  I am continually interested in how personal identity can be shaped through material interactions, and enjoy rearranging fairy tale outcomes to escape set orders.


The result of this project is a series of hand made look books for RedShift, one of which is in The Joan Flasch Artist's Book Collection.

There's a fine line between self-reflection and self-voyeurism.  

Look beyond the red dotted swatch for details...

See more photos here

A poem by Paul Shullenberger in response to "In Ridicule Of Spectacle"

party hat central calling
elusive tassels’ nonesuch
numinous graffiti hotline:
does a stitch in time throw
clocks out of whack?

wear your words lightly
if they float you’re there
grains of sand are feathers
through foo stints as hair

stutter-dance with doodles
peripherally lensed
landscape’s scalp massage it
grab knead twang the air
--for kristin mariani



Many thanks to Carol McCurdy, Ella Stauber, David Ettinger, Sara Levine, Adam Vida, and Alex Inglizian

Pressing Needs: A Case Study of Cares and Desires

SAIC Sullivan Galleries, October - December 2008

Installation for J. Morgan Puett’s collaborative project Department (Store)

"Pressing Needs" is an arrangement of garment care labels and dressmaking tools set inside a display case from the former Carson, Pirie, Scott building designed by Louis Sullivan.  Collecting numerous labels out of various articles of clothing, I stitched over words using a machine darning technique.  The fabrication process removed and re-framed language to alter meaning, resulting in a colorful accumulation of poem-like fragments from my free associations with notions of care and desire.  I am continually adding to this collection, keeping the labels stored in a scroll of muslin that lengthens as needed. 

see more photos here