Plan B is my first completed piece since retiring. I have always loved the act or process of deconstructing something familiar and reconstructing it into something new. I choose my materials with great intention - an old map with fingerprints still visible, handmade papers, twisted corded newsprint, book text, wild silk thread and textiles. The reconstructed shapes originated from vintage sewing patterns. My process used similar techniques to constructing clothing. I started by creating a color blocked paper fabric rolled out and then laid out my pattern pieces that were cut and reassembled into a new form. The stitch is common mark in much of my work. Although abstract in nature the use of sewing patterns connects me to my mother and grandmother who taught me the craft of sewing.
MCAD Auction
So happy to support MCAD student scholarships with a donation of art. 95% of the purchase price went directly to students.
Trophy Wife
Trophy Wife was completed on my 23rd wedding anniversary. I thought the title was a nice play on past and present. And it’s laughable that I’d ever be considered a trophy wife. This is a portrait of my 12 year old self when my mom and I use to run around to horse shows. After all of these years I’m glad I was able to capture the essence of that time. It’s made from hand cut paper. Below is the original photo.
Trophy Wife
I Am Not Done
I Am Not Done was recently published in the Minneapolis St Paul home design magazine. It was part of a kitchen remodel by JKath Design. The owner of the home bought this piece several years ago.
I Am Not Done
Freedom
We installed Freedom in our bedroom in Wisconsin last weekend. I love that it is on the side of the house that faces our neighbors horse pasture from which it was inspired. The horse represents strength, resilience and independence to me.
Sense of Place
When I first moved my studio to Wisconsin I had a hard time adapting. A wise mentor of mine said that I needed to start painting my surroundings. But I’m not a landscape painter so what can I do? That is when my equally wise husband said paint the land from above. Hello google earth. This triptych Sense of Place is a mixed media piece that shows the contours of the land including the Trembelle River from above my studio. Materials include paint, burlap, torn and stitched canvas.
Sense of Place
94w 50h
Labor of love
After a lengthy search up and down country roads Gregg and I bought the land for our studio+shop in 2008. We sat on it for two years before we broke ground in 2010. This was a dream project that took us approximately five years to complete. We started with getting Gregg’s wood shop finished so he could gradually build out the rest of the space. We enjoyed the slower pace taking time to ensure the layout worked for our creative needs and invested in the materials and design details that were most important to us. We made a commitment to using quality materials, timeless design and utilizing local resources as much as possible.
If What You Wear
A commission for Interior Designer, Andrew Flesher’s New York apartment, this work spans 112” wide by 18” high. Inspired by a window display at a men’s shirt shop each shirt label features a line from a poem created in collaboration with Zac Stafford. Materials include shredded paper, pattern paper and vintage textiles.
One
by Zac Stafford
If
What you wear says
What you can’t
And
What you see is
What you get,
Or,
A picture is worth
1,000 words—
Then
By rights it stands
To reason,
That
We should extirpate,
All the brittle words;
Not
By their foliage alone
But by their dirty brittle roots—
And
Why stop there?
Gather all your gabardine,
Your saddle stitched
Un-dyed wool,
Those
Teeming heaped piles
Of unwashed blues
By which
We will build a bonfire
Of vainglorious proportions
Stripped of all artifice
Painted by the blaze,
We waltz our dirty faces skyward
Ignorant of our sweet imperfections
Before
Artist/Poet collaboration with Zac Stafford. Referenced from an old photo of Zac’s mother and uncle. Paper, paint and printed words.
Before
by Zac Stafford
Before the cigarettes
Before the fights
Before the tear warped light
Before the wheeze
Before the playground scraped knees
Before the war
Before the scatter and dash
Before the ash
Before the breeze
Before the doctors whispered disease
Before the scalpel
Before the cut
Before the bills and pills and living wills
Before the looming dread
Before the broken down cars, food stamps and legal pleading and moral fleeting
Before foreclosure
Before neglect
There was a glimmer a grin and place to begin
I Have Given My Whole Life To Words
I Have Given My Whole Life To Words is a commissioned art piece for the Forum Communications news room in Fargo, ND.
Research and collaboration was an essential part of my creative process. Understanding the Forum’s history, talking first-hand with journalists, printers and archivists about their passion at the paper, how they interact with each other and within the community allowed the process of storytelling to unfold.
Using a variety of materials and techniques relevant to the newspaper and journalism as a profession, I combined text, newsprint and old textiles in unconventional ways. Original wood type was hand-rubbed with graphite on paper then enlarged and hand printed on the piece. You see re-use of reporter notes and remnants of a printer’s apron. A host of stories about community, historic events and life changing experiences that are re-interpreted through bits of cloth, paper, paint and text.
A reflection of the individuals it surrounds, the art is expressive, full of continuous motion and a bit chaotic. My hope was that everyday curiosity would lead one to see something new, to ponder the complexity and the multitude of layers and stories within the piece and the world in which we all live.
Dress Backwards
Number three in a series that marks the journey of my mother’s Alzheimer’s. My mom loved to dance and had a closet full of dresses for each occasion. This dress reflects one of those dresses I found while clearing out her apartment. Rosary beads, pattern paper, textiles and old torn photos
Towards the River
Towards the River is inspired by the thunder of forty horses galloping out to the pasture each morning. Materials include newsprint, shredded paper and acrylics. A poem embedded within the piece was created by Zac Stafford.
Detail-Towards the River
Towards the River
By Zac Stafford
The courting she said
was more like a fitting for a saddle
than anything resembling love
Nobody laughs at the truth anymore
Then again they said
Thats what you get when you use the bible to stop your bed
They said at night she closed her eyes and
raced breakneck across the moon stained field behind the barn towards the river
Towards a little salvation
They said her hair streamed behind her like coal black wings
heaving with copper
Anyone looking with more than their mouths
knew she flew not towards anything
Still Here
My grandmother, Elizabeth Fleming, (1886-1974) continues to guide me with her most notable attributes; a steady calm, love for fashion and sewing. Unheard of for women at this time, my grandmother and four women friends started a custom millinery shop in 1907. Their fearlessness, creativity and spirit is something I have drawn on often.
Still Here sculptural vintage hat forms are each adorned with a line from a poem done in collaboration with my friend and poet, Zac Stafford. The words are stenciled, hand-wrapped in pewter and nailed on to each form.
Millinery business partners with Grandmother, Elizabeth Fleming (second from right)
I Know You By Heart
Number four in a series that marks the journey of my mother’s Alzheimer’s. By 2005, my mom’s memory was severely declining. She no longer recognized family members and her conversations were limited.
The vintage dress form served as a reflection of my mother—a seamstress, daughter, mother, grandmother and friend to many. Covered in shredded photos and newsprint from old scrap books these fragments were pieces and parts of her life scattered chaotically throughout the piece. It really didn’t matter that my mom couldn’t remember any longer. It just meant I was going to have to work harder to remember her.
I’ll Catch The Words As They Fall
Number five in a series that marks the journey of my mother’s Alzheimer’s. My mom broke her hip in 2005 which accelerated her Alzheimer's and by 2006 most of her speech was gone. I’ll Catch The Words As They Fall was created in the spring of 2006. What little she said, I wanted to catch each word and hold on to them for as long as I could. Some made sense and others I had to piece together. Individually crafted, each letter hanging from the bodice is unique—some with fabric, others with old letters written to my mom from friends in the army. It’s fragile, complex and gives one a sense of barely holding on.
I Am Still Here
Number six in a series that marks the journey of my mother’s Alzheimer’s. By 2007 by mom could no longer communicate. During this time there were still small indicators that she was present; a joyful smile or a pondering gaze. The dress is a nod to years of sewing together and her love for dancing. A fully constructed hand-stitched dress made from paper, newsprint and bookbinding material.. A poem created by poet and friend, Zac Stafford is hand stenciled on the inside.
I Am Still Here
by Zac Stafford
lest you forget,
I am still here.
another shadow,
another year.
another sting
another slap.
another reason I won’t
fight back.
another wrinkle
another fold.
another story
that won’t be told.
amongst those dusty
crevices
faces get lost
or were they hid?
from the sunshine
from the rain
without a thought
of love or pain
so raise your glass
and kiss the air
and ask out loud
are you still there?
My Therapy Dogs
This series of sixteen dog portraits started innocently as an escape from an election year. Although they are separate paintings they are meant to be displayed together as one unified piece. I refer to them as My Therapy Dogs. They have provided hours of pure pleasure and reward. The intentional use of color is a departure from my natural color palette.
My Therapy Dogs
Tongues Out