Growing up in the 1960s, it was an expectation in my family that girls were to be the picture of pristine femininity, wearing crisp matching clothes, having impeccably coiffed hair, and demonstrating the ability to cook and sew. School textbooks reinforced these expectations through imagery and narrative. My ceramic sculptures focus on gender roles through the motif of three dimensional dresses and accessories. The dresses are around thirty inches tall and have image laden surfaces that tell a story. This narrative is layered, at once looking perhaps nostalgic and delicate while at the same time critiquing the expectations of the 1960s, suggesting that women are more than that. Further, these are dresses. There are not figures inside because women's identity at the time was often erased or dismissed. They became a "Mrs." and lost their names.
The dresses are hollow forms that stand on their own, generally with a strong sense of movement as though there is a ghost of a body inside. The pieces are cut into and sometimes include sprig molding on the outside. Surfaces are engraved and then fired with underglazes, glaze and sometimes encaustic. The imagery tells a story and wraps around the dress. I invite the viewer to elaborate on and question the tale they encounter on the surface. Rain boots and clutches are among the accessories in this exhibit. These are from hand made plaster molds of thrift store purchases which are then slip cast and glazed.
Articles of clothing have qualities that I seek to embrace in my work. A dress or purse can speak to the personality of the wearer. I intend for these sculptures to hint at those personalities and relay stories that we remember.