Saturday, March 26, 2011

carbon footprint series

the idea:
having the public create the contrast needed to make the image.
I tape off a dress form on paper then remove the tape after a certain period during which the paper has been walked on.
Speaks to the accumulative effects of human presence on Mother Earth,
as well as the feelings that some people may experience in certain situations and/or relationships.*
* thanks to my dear friend and awesome illustrator/artist Jeffrey Decoster for some of the above verbiage

The first carbon footprint dress was set up at Fountain Street Fine Art, and was walked on for the duration of my two person show with Lisa Barthelson ~ March 4th - March 27th.
Today I unmasked the dress and hung it in the gallery. There is a short video at the bottom of this post.




At Vermont Studio Center I set-up two carbon footprint dresses ~ one small one outside my studio door. The other one I set up for a very short period & put it right inside the studio building's door. I set it up for the 'open studio' evening when all the artists tramp around the VSC campus to see what everyone else has been doing. So although it was a brief time for the dress to be exposed, there was intense traffic. My studio building buddies were happy to be the first to put on their prints.












...after a few hours of being walked on by shoes and boots tramping through the Vermont snow and mud!!














I am very excited about this series. i am trying out different things each time - different tapes, different papers (I want to find one that will REALLY pick up the dirt!!!!! any suggestions???) and I like experimenting with the dress ~ with the VSC open studio dress I put in some 'pleats' in the dress's skirt. So here are the first two, hopefully to be joined by many more!!!

video of the final unmasking of the Fountain Street Fine Art Carbon Footprint dress

peace

2 comments:

  1. I love this! It's such a great idea and the art it created is interesting. I love the pleats in the second piece!

    ReplyDelete
  2. love it Virginia! keep going, want to see more! (and agree with Denise, love the pleats) how about trying the 'disposable' paper drop cloth material used when painting? heavy-ish but seems to really pick up footprints!

    ReplyDelete

thank you for visiting my blog and for taking the time to comment ~ it is always a gift to get feedback!! so thx and peace ~