A Dress To Die For

What do toe tags from a morgue and a wedding dress have in common? Maybe nothing to the average and sane person. But for me, they are the elements that have kicked off my grad school work as I stumble towards a master's degree. In school we explore materials and concept, and soon I will be expected to have an artist statement somewhat representative of what my final work will be in order to graduate. Currently I am playing around with a few different depictions, but keep coming back to dresses...always dresses. Some of you may have read the wedding dress blog post from awhile back. Well, you will be happy to know I am getting use out of my actual dress finally. It is hanging from a coat rack in my studio at this very minute serving as inspiration for my sculptures and paintings. To catch a glimpse of how this body of work is developing, be sure to swing by the Levy Gallery at Buckman Performing Arts before my show closes later this month. The mixed media and encaustic paintings are illustrations of the idealized image of married life as served to many young girls through the lens of a homemaker from a 1950's perspective while living in the current decade. I use collage elements from a 1955 Better Homes and Gardens Magazine to show how silly, ludicrous and even sad the expectations posed upon women used to be. Thank goodness we are no longer made to feel less than adequate if we don't vacuum with rolled hair and red lips! Still stuck on making "pretty" paintings, I am trying to push the boundaries a little more with my sculpture work. Stay tuned, as there is lots more to come!!!!

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