Adelina's Alley

Adelina's Alley

-1950s party dress, 50s mens shirt, 60s woven cotton curtains, Jack Lenor Larsen upholstery, Breton knit shirt

From Vittorio de Sica's 1963 film "Ieri, Oggi, Domani".

The colors, fabrics, and architectural space in this screenshot inspired the textile.

Infrastructure: making it as I find it

This textile began with the opening of my grandmother's 1950s blue wool coat. What I found within--the frayed woven webbing, rose colored bias tape, two-toned satin lining, thick wool seams-- had such strong sculptural possibilities that I left them intact as the jumping-off point for the resulting textile. 

Infrastructure

1950s wool coat including cotton webbing, bias tape, satin lining; early 20thc velvet, 70s cotton velour pants, burlap, canvas backing 

Tampa/West Palm Direct

Tampa/West Palm Direct
-Fabrics 1930s-present, including cargo pants seams and remnants from my kimono robe project

This textile is another  "art of conversation" piece-- the initial design was laid out during a phone conversation 

with a friend who was driving from his home in Tampa to visit his parents in West Palm Beach.

Porching it in my robe with Tillycat.

Mash-up 1 and John Chamberlain sculpture

Mash-up 1
-1960s curtains and assorted scraps

"Delores James" by John Chamberlain, 1962
Photo Credit: Guggenheim 

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus
-1960s wool coat and satin lining, 50s party dress with tulle trim, hand-embroidered tea-dyed burlap,
80s bed sheet, cargo pants seams

Eucalyptus bark at a friend's house, Woodland Hills, CA.  As soon as I saw the
tree, I knew I would make a textile, and exactly which fabrics I would use.

                                             

My mother's 1960s wool coat, transitioning from garment to art.
I love the two-tone coral/gray, shiny/matte satin lining.  The construction
details-- inseams, hems, edges cut with pinking shears-- are kept intact
and used as-is in the textile.                                                                                                                                            



                                                                                 

My mom (right) and her two sisters in 1950s party gowns.
The green fabric in the textile, if not from one of these dresses, is
from one similar.

No Donkey, No Blindfold- inspired by Utamaro geishas and Kuniyoshi samurai

No Donkey, No Blindfold 
-1930s matelasse bedspread, 60s floral print cotton, 60s curtains, 70s corduroy Levi's, tape measure, zipper

The contrasting floral prints and sharp black slashes are inspired by the 18th-19thc prints of Utamaro and Kunioshi..

Iceland Goes Through: the art of conversation

Iceland Goes Through

- 1950s woven cotton upholstery, 60s gingham dress, 60s curtains, 

80s paisley upholstery

... one of several textiles I've laid out during phone conversations with friends.  In these works, the present moment is considered as much a material as the fabric; there is a natural interweaving of dialogues--internal and external, fabrics and friendship. During this particular conversation, a friend who is an avid soccer fan was telling me about the rise of Iceland, the Cinderella team in the Euro 2016 tournament.  As she recounted each win, she would say 

"...and so, Iceland goes through."  

Hat Brim/Peine del Viento

Hat Brim/Peine del Viento
- 1990s black velvet hat brim and various scraps, 1920s-present

      

Point of departure-- a hat brim I cut out in the nineties for a project never completed.

...thinking of Eduardo Chillida's sculpture, Peine del Viento (Comb of the Wind).

Seaside painting by Nicolas de Stael

                                                                                                                                                     

The Red Shirt

             



The Red Shirt
-1970s cotton shirt, 2000s Gap chinos, various scraps on burlap

The old barn behind our house.

Lapstrake, Ticking, and Rachel Carey George/Gee's Bend quilt

                                 



Lapstrake
- Gap jeans c.2000, early 20th c velvet, 1970s velour pants, silk, wool, cheesecloth, burlap

                                                                                                                                                                 














Ticking
- early 20th c mattress ticking, wood toothpicks, cotton string, tea-dyed burlap

                                         








Ticking removed from cotton boll stuffed mattress.

Gee's Bend/ Rachel Carey George quilt

The use of old clothing and household items in my work is directly inspired by the Gee's Bend quilt makers, a group of African American women living in close-knit geographically isolated communities of Alabama.  Their work, originally made of whatever salvageable materials were available, represents an important cultural and visual contribution to the history of 20th c African American art.  In need of warmth, and with no time to fuss over intricate patterns and piecework, the Gee's Bend artists created a non-traditional aesthetic vision which incorporates the idiosyncrasies and past lives of recycled goods.  In this quilt by Rachel Carey George (1909-2011)--made of wool trousers, jeans, and mattress ticking--the faded ghost prints of pockets become compositional elements in the overall design.