Stretch and Stitch

I learned to sew from older sisters and by 13 had learned to make clothes. As a disruptive artist, I pursued making stitchery items into something monumental to honor women’s domestic sewing skills. Many projects were collaborations with the photographer, Ruth Eckland. The sculpture series were titled “Stretch,” and shown at the Yerba Buena Gardens Center for the Arts, at City Center in Oakland, and at the Museum Of Art and Design in Costa Rica. In 2004, I produced a video that was projected onto a large little girl’s dress. Called “Beast,” with a sound track, exhibited at San Francisco State University Gallery. Over time, the armature for the mesh sculpture became elaborate and more a focal point, leading to the intricate armatures of the steel and glass public art sculpture. Along the way, I also stitched over-sized organza garments adding paint and collage which created some of the layering effect of the light projections on garments.