That’s Not How I Remember It

2011 • Punch Gallery, Seattle Washington

Three different elements make up this show- but of course, in my mind, they are all related.

First, a giant Blue Dress. 12 feet tall, made from recycled Blue Tarp woven over a steel armature, it fills the gallery reaching from wall to wall, and up to the ceiling. It hovers above the floor, floating in space. It’s a structure, a wearable yurt. It’s a goddess monument. It’s a reflection on the influence that the book The Tin Drum, by Gunter Grass, had on me as a teenager. I built it full scale, then cut it into pieces small enough to fit thru the standard 3 foot wide door of the gallery, and sewed it back together inside.

Second, a table and four stools sits inside, under the dress. Forged from steel, with a top made from 100 year old barn timber, this very handcrafted furniture is a bohemian tea ceremony in progress inside the blue lit tent/dress. I sat there often during the show, sipping tea and welcoming visitors.

Third, a suite of over 20 embroidered pieces hang on the walls all around the dress. They are musings on mortality and irony, machine embroidered on handmade paper. Part of a continuing series of work, using an ever expanding vocabulary of embroidered icons, combined in many ways. Some are urban totems, related to my large outdoor sculpture, Eat, Drink, and Be Merry. Each piece was 8” x 10”, framed and hung like family portraits, surrounding the Big Blue Dress.