how, once again, 'the dress' saved me . . . .
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| 'moss' 2dec |
As I headed into the month of December
I was plagued with uncertainty and exhaustion.
My long term substitute job at Dana Hall had ended, and
I didn't have anything on the agenda.
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| 'ties' 3dec |
In many ways it was a needed and healthy place to be
for someone who has been in triage mode for years,
but it also sent me into a petite free fall
- I was feeling lost!
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'dusting' 4dec
Then one gray and dingy December morning,
out with my trusty companion Scruffy,
a clump on bright green moss caught my attention.
I have always wanted to make a dress of moss, and since I had no where to run off to or schedule to keep, I realized that I could stop and make a dress!
And, as always happens whenever I make one of my ephemeral dress,
I felt better.
I was outside, in the brisk, fresh, new england winter,
finding the best pieces of moss
with which to create a dress.
I felt myself righted a bit. |
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| 'poetic' 4 dec |
And then the next day Scruffy and I discovered discarded,
old, rusty and luscious railroad ties!!! Another dress!!
I had a series,
posting the dresses on Instagram,
with 'hashtag' no less (#decemberdress ).
I was back, baby, eager for the next day
to see what materials would call to me.
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| 'lichen' 5dec |
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| my lovely assistant, scruffy |
I have been intrigued how this December experience
is strikingly similiar to
the week in August of 2006,
when I started my infatuation with the dress,
aka 'the dress project'.
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'ever - green???' 6dec
I was on a family vacation in Wells Beach, ME
and feeling out of sorts then too.
Earlier in the summer I had a successful gallery show of acrylic still life's at Natick's Gallery55.
One might wonder,
why out of sorts after a successful show??
Good question! |
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| 'prints' 8dec. The Porches Inn, North Adams, MA |
Well, first, this exhibit showed me that art,
no matter what kind of art,
has a voice and I wanted to give that voice more depth,
put more substance into my art. As well,
I wanted my work to be more personal,
have more to offer the viewers.
But I was not sure how to do all that.
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| 'lathe' 10 dec, Dana Hall School |
 |
the lathe in action at the 'Makers' exhibit at the Art Gallery at Dana Hall
$econdly, $ince my painting$ '$old', my internal voices bombarded me; 'paint more garlic$, people loved the garlic$', 'more pear$', bigger canvase$',
blah, blah, blah.
This tainted my studio practice.
I was thinking too much,
the work was becoming labored and looked it! So I headed off to Maine artistically struggling. |
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| 'by the tracks' 15dec |
Then I 'stumbled upon' the idea of creating a dress out of materials from the beach.
With the first dress, the floodgates opened and
I was back in that most amazing place where I am just creating and NOT thinking!! Nirvana!!
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| 'slush' 16dec |
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| so patient!! |
And as it was in 2006, when 'the dress' guided me onto this exciting creative journey I call 'the dress project', this month, as Scruffy and I were out and about making dresses, things started happening in other parts of my life.
I was called to do some more substituting at Dana Hall (money is always welcomed), and I got interviewed for a 'possible' feature article in a local arts magazine?!?! (more about that later :)
I truly feel rescued!!
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| 'snowed in' 17dec |
I was back in the wonderful state of thinking about material and dresses on a daily basis. I found myself following familiar self-imposed guidelines.
First and foremost,
I will not hurt or cut down any living plant for a dress!!
All the 'material' is found, already discarded by Mother Nature.
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'kids' menu' 18dec
Second requirement: mix up my techniques;
if I 'dug out' the dress one day I don't want to dig out another dress.
I like to challenge myself! I like to make each dress unique!!
|
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| 'twiggy' 19 dec |
I remember this requirement was very important for my dailydress journals; if I was doing a lot of collaging then I needed to draw, paint or do a subtractive process.
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| 'fallen' 20 dec, Newton Public Library, Newton, MA |
There were other similarities between this series and the Wells series.
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| 'digging in the dirt' 21dec. |
I would head out to the beach with one preconceived idea of the material that I would be using for that day's dress, and then end up using something completely different.
These december dresses are no different.
I would head out into the winter landscape
thinking today I'll use 'blank',
only to discover a much more suited material for the day!!
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'ginger' 21 dec. making the famous and delicious family recipe for
Anne's Scotch Ginger bread with Maya for a cookie swap |
Also once I start to focus on a certain material and
concentrate on creating the dress,
I find wonderful treasures. It is as if I suddenly
had special, X-ray finder's eyes,
discovering the tiny starfish at the beach
or the empty cocoon of a cicada at Wellesley College.
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'everandalways' 22dec.
this title references how my dresses are forever and always there for me! |
So here is my #decemebrdress series so far,
made out of snow, slush, twigs and so much more.
I have posted the picture of the dress and
then a picture of the location where each dress was made,
this helps give a sense of scale and place.
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| 'christmas' 25dec. Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA |
Below is a link to an album on Facebook if you are interested.
Out of the world of social media
Instagram is my favorite because it is visual, a cyber picture book.
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| 'vinyl' 26dec, Cambridge, MA |
Hope you enjoyed this tale of loss and redemption via the dress ~
peace
You can use this link to share this photo album with anyone, even if they don't have a Facebook account. Anyone with the link will be able to see your photo album.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151893758928634.1073741867.127363913633&type=1&l=6612aa2530
