My work begins with post-consumer material diverted from a destiny as trash. Revitalized from the mundane, these recycled tin containers are deconstructed, cut, folded and reassembled into the extraordinary. Often cut with pinking shears, the metal makes a sharp and pointed commentary. Colors, patterns, words and images are chosen specifically for their societal statements and visual impact.

Most importantly, the re-use of discarded materials addresses a spectrum of social and political issues. The chairs and jewelry are two bodies of work, which focus on the idea of cultural and personal identity. Using the human body as a battleground for social status and identity, these works run parallel to our mediašs marketing strategies. Consumers believe in a brand namešs power to confer status, charisma and knowledge. According to advertising guru James Twitchell, "every symbol from Alka Seltzer's Speedy to the Energizer Bunny plants powerful notions of who we are."*

As an artist, wife, and mother suffocating in "domestic bliss", my work is embedded with the mundane of everyday life and the relentless messages of "atisfaction guaranteed." The second-class status of women who care for home and children bears a strong relationship to the second-class status of craft and handmade objects in the art world.

This dialog was first illustrated in "The Family of Appliances You Can Believe In" a group of fabricated, domestic appliances started in 1980. These appliances, as well as the work to come later, use humor and craftsmanship (along with autobiographical content) to comment on issues regarding the roles of women in our society, American consumerism and the Art world. The irony of handmade objects replicating the status symbols of manufactured domestic appliances is an important aspect; the useful object is useless.

Conspicuous consumption as a cultural norm flourishes in the rapid-fire pace of changing styles. Materialist values directly influence the marketing of art and craft, as well. While my work does not seek value in its materials, it does ask us to re-evaluate how or why an object is valued in our material culture. Does value exist within the craftsmanship, by who made it, or by what materials are used? Or is value created through mass marketing and mass-consumption?


*Richard and Joyce Wolkomir, Smithsonian Magazine, page 103.

Close Window