resistance and politics
Since 2017 I have explored the themes of resistance and politics. Making art on these subjects helps me process the drama, conflict, outrage and turmoil in our country since our 45th President was inaugurated.
COVID Quilt
May 2020, mixed media crazy quilt, 19.5 x 20.5 inches
The words that come out of our President’s mouth are both laughable and frightening. For those who trust science, he speaks nonsense, but for those who oppose logic and education, his words ring true. I want to draw the audience to the beauty of the piece – the bugle beads and spangles that make the surface sparkle. They also represent the invisible scattering of the coronavirus through spittle and speech. I cut up beautiful silk neckties, symbols of the Establishment, and arranged them chaotically, to represent today's economy. I used broken pieces of women’s garments: zippers, snaps and fasteners to represent how little women matter to Trump outside of the bedroom. I added reprehensible, patriotic and religious symbols such as communist badges, military buttons, hand gun, Confederate flag, cross, devil worship symbols and a Chinaman patch to show how Trump indiscriminately uses everything to his benefit. While documenting some of his memorable COVID statements, I began to understand his disquieting purpose: to inciting his base to rise up and create civil disorder. It will happen if he loses the election. We must be ready.
The words that come out of our President’s mouth are both laughable and frightening. For those who trust science, he speaks nonsense, but for those who oppose logic and education, his words ring true. I want to draw the audience to the beauty of the piece – the bugle beads and spangles that make the surface sparkle. They also represent the invisible scattering of the coronavirus through spittle and speech. I cut up beautiful silk neckties, symbols of the Establishment, and arranged them chaotically, to represent today's economy. I used broken pieces of women’s garments: zippers, snaps and fasteners to represent how little women matter to Trump outside of the bedroom. I added reprehensible, patriotic and religious symbols such as communist badges, military buttons, hand gun, Confederate flag, cross, devil worship symbols and a Chinaman patch to show how Trump indiscriminately uses everything to his benefit. While documenting some of his memorable COVID statements, I began to understand his disquieting purpose: to inciting his base to rise up and create civil disorder. It will happen if he loses the election. We must be ready.
Spittlemask
April, 2020, Mix Media: fabric, beads, watercolors and knox gelatin, 7 x 14 inches
Masks seem to be the hot item of the month. People are now required to wear them in public places. There are a lot of styles around and ways masks are worn. I’ve been seeing several videos about sneezing and how far mucus and virus mist travel. My Spittlemask will hopefully incite enough fear for people to practice social distancing when they approach me.
Masks seem to be the hot item of the month. People are now required to wear them in public places. There are a lot of styles around and ways masks are worn. I’ve been seeing several videos about sneezing and how far mucus and virus mist travel. My Spittlemask will hopefully incite enough fear for people to practice social distancing when they approach me.
Tammy's Crown
January 2020, Sculpture, 33.5 x 11x 10.5 inches
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Tammy Duckworth: American WomanJanuary 2020, Painted braille book, 10 x 10 inches, 20 pages including covers
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Ladda Tammy Duckworth, Senator from Illinois, is one of my heroes. She has had a challenging life: claiming her identity as a mixed race person, living in poverty and on government assistance, being severely wounded as a helicopter pilot, going through a brutal rehabilitation regimen, confronting racism while running for national office, dealing with infertility and giving birth to two babies through in-vitro fertilization at age 47 and 50, and continuing to work as a Senator while nursing a baby. These struggles have not turned her inward and bitter but outward and determined. In each of her struggles, she has both accepted help and found ways to pay back by helping others in similar situations. Duckworth represents the demographics of what our country is becoming today: mixed race, non-Caucasian, beneficiary of government assistance and realizing her American Dream because of it, hard-working and determined to work through Congress to better the lives of military veterans, working mothers, victims of gun violence, and transgender people, among other things. She is what America already is and continues to become: a representative of the demographic that puts fear into the hearts of politicians like Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and Donald J. Trump.
Pollution Patrol
Acid Rain |
Conflagration |
Sulfurous Smog (SOLD) |
December, 2019, photo-lithograph, colored pencils, pastels, 24 x 20 inches
Like the idealistic youth who gave their lives in service to war, these sad-eyed men believe their protective gear will keep them alive in a toxic world.
Like the idealistic youth who gave their lives in service to war, these sad-eyed men believe their protective gear will keep them alive in a toxic world.
Liar Liar Pants On Fire
Sept 2018, Mixed Media, Tyvek men’s briefs set on fire mounted on fine Italian suiting.
These briefs symbolize the 1980s when Brett Kavanaugh and other well-to-do boys came of age, raised on party flicks like Risky Business, Valley Girl, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, House Party and Pretty in Pink. Mimicking Hollywood, they partied their asses off, trashed homes, wrecked cars, drank and vomited to excess, and grabbed pussy mostly without consequence. It didn’t matter that the girls said stop. Their behavior was forgiven. Boys will be boys. Girls were silenced, disbelieved, slut-shamed. Their anger burned without end. At some point boys like Kavanaugh sobered up and old-boy-networked into jobs that clothed them in suits of impeccable respectability. It was easy to forget the past. No harm. No foul. No proof. His word against hers. Liar, liar pants on fire. The witch hunt is just beginning.
These briefs symbolize the 1980s when Brett Kavanaugh and other well-to-do boys came of age, raised on party flicks like Risky Business, Valley Girl, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, House Party and Pretty in Pink. Mimicking Hollywood, they partied their asses off, trashed homes, wrecked cars, drank and vomited to excess, and grabbed pussy mostly without consequence. It didn’t matter that the girls said stop. Their behavior was forgiven. Boys will be boys. Girls were silenced, disbelieved, slut-shamed. Their anger burned without end. At some point boys like Kavanaugh sobered up and old-boy-networked into jobs that clothed them in suits of impeccable respectability. It was easy to forget the past. No harm. No foul. No proof. His word against hers. Liar, liar pants on fire. The witch hunt is just beginning.
Political Action Group
May, 2018, Artist book: 20 pages pamphlet stitched braille book, 10 x 10 inches, 20 pages
What women are the power brokers in Congress today? Who are the up and comers in politics? The braille book format punctuates the danger of turning a blind eye to politics and allowing extremists to move our nation in the wrong direction. The women painted on these pages are current and future politicians. Through them I hope we will reverse the current trend and expand environmental protection, immigration rights and access to healthcare; solidify LGBT rights; protect reproductive rights; and implement gun control.
What women are the power brokers in Congress today? Who are the up and comers in politics? The braille book format punctuates the danger of turning a blind eye to politics and allowing extremists to move our nation in the wrong direction. The women painted on these pages are current and future politicians. Through them I hope we will reverse the current trend and expand environmental protection, immigration rights and access to healthcare; solidify LGBT rights; protect reproductive rights; and implement gun control.
Deep State Conspiracy 2018
August, 2018, Assemblage
Q-Anon is a leaderless populist movement made up of people who believe in no one and believe almost anything. Fed breadcrumbs of information by an anonymous government official called “Q” through an anonymous website, followers believe that special prosecutor Robert Mueller is in secret alliance with Trump to expose and arrest Hillary and Bill Clinton for their child sex-trafficking operation. At recent Trump rallies believers have been spotted wearing Q teeshirts.
Q-Anon is a leaderless populist movement made up of people who believe in no one and believe almost anything. Fed breadcrumbs of information by an anonymous government official called “Q” through an anonymous website, followers believe that special prosecutor Robert Mueller is in secret alliance with Trump to expose and arrest Hillary and Bill Clinton for their child sex-trafficking operation. At recent Trump rallies believers have been spotted wearing Q teeshirts.
Rites of Passage
selected pages from Rites of Passage
September, 2017, Artist's Book, 20 pages, pamphlet stitched, 10" x 10". Paint and ink on Braille.
From childhood, Hillary Clinton strove to be the best at everything. Her ambition burned hot and she believed that hard work would have its rewards. This is a book about Hillary Clinton’s rites of passage – moments filled with triumphant joys and bitter disappointments. Her life and career is shaped by memories and lessons learned from exposing too much of herself – too smart, too plain, too feminist, too financially successful, too capable, too comfortable being her husband’s equal, too willing to forgive her husband’s sins. Because she was smart, she learned to cover over her vulnerabilities and swallowing her anger at the unfair and rough treatment. As she grew older, she downplayed her intellect and spoke in platitudes. Ironically, those who hate her never believed in this good, public Hillary. They will forever remember her as Lady MacBeth with her “consuming ambition, inflexibility of purpose, domination of a pliable husband, and an unsettling lack of tender human feeling, along with the affluent feminist’s contempt for traditional female roles.”[i] In contrast the collective memories of those who supported Hillary will forever see her as a strong, honorable, humanitarian feminist brought down by the male establishment. In Rites of Passage, I’ve mixed real and false memories, assigned words that Hillary may or may not have spoken publicly. True or not, these words and images represent the anger, disappointment and triumph I shared in empathy towards a political figure that I have never met but deeply admired.
[i] Daniel Wattenberg, conservative critic
From childhood, Hillary Clinton strove to be the best at everything. Her ambition burned hot and she believed that hard work would have its rewards. This is a book about Hillary Clinton’s rites of passage – moments filled with triumphant joys and bitter disappointments. Her life and career is shaped by memories and lessons learned from exposing too much of herself – too smart, too plain, too feminist, too financially successful, too capable, too comfortable being her husband’s equal, too willing to forgive her husband’s sins. Because she was smart, she learned to cover over her vulnerabilities and swallowing her anger at the unfair and rough treatment. As she grew older, she downplayed her intellect and spoke in platitudes. Ironically, those who hate her never believed in this good, public Hillary. They will forever remember her as Lady MacBeth with her “consuming ambition, inflexibility of purpose, domination of a pliable husband, and an unsettling lack of tender human feeling, along with the affluent feminist’s contempt for traditional female roles.”[i] In contrast the collective memories of those who supported Hillary will forever see her as a strong, honorable, humanitarian feminist brought down by the male establishment. In Rites of Passage, I’ve mixed real and false memories, assigned words that Hillary may or may not have spoken publicly. True or not, these words and images represent the anger, disappointment and triumph I shared in empathy towards a political figure that I have never met but deeply admired.
[i] Daniel Wattenberg, conservative critic
Erasure
"Erasure III" Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint, 30" x 40"
"Erasure I" Sept 2016 - Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint, 20" x 16."
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"Erasure II" Sept 2016 - Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint, 30" x 40"
"Erasure V" Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint, 20" x 16."
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"Erasure IV" Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint, 11" x 14"
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"Erasure VII" Sept 2016 - Aug 2017. Mixed media with bandaids and acrylic paint, 16" x 20"
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"Erasure VI" Aug 2017. Mixed media with candy wrappers and acrylic paint.
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Late last summer I started a series of Hillary paintings in anticipation of her becoming the first female President. The works were intended to bring a smile and serve as positive antidotes to the vicious, negative attacks on Clinton throughout her campaign. After the election debacle, I did not have the heart to finish these paintings. The canvases sat around in my studio for a year until I couldn't look at them any longer and started to paint over them. Serendipitously, a friend visited my studio and remarked on my symbolic act of erasure. It turned out to be the right way to express what has happened, not just to Hillary but to women's rights around the world.
Funhouse Passages
Selected Pages from Funhouse Passages
August, 2017, Artist's Book, 20 pages, pamphlet stitched, 10.5" x 10.5". Paint and ink on Braille. This Braille book explores "passages" in two forms: the shuffling of White House personnel in alarming succession and verbal and written passages associated with these individuals. I selected words that best fit the characters, whether Senate testimony, on-the-record media interviews, declarations of Trump loyalty, fake media coverage or tweets. See complete book online: www.yumpu.com/xx/document/view/59379304/fun-house-passages-2017
First 100 Days
Selected Pages From First 100 Days
July, 2017. Artists' Book, 112 pages, Coptic Binding. 21" W(open) x 10.5"H x 2"D. Using the bumpy pages of Braille magazines as my canvas, I have selected and drawn an event that has occurred over each of the first 100 plus days of the Presidency. Over days, weeks and months I painted over the white Braille pages and drew, stenciled and numbered the days. More than ever before, families, friends and the community are irredeemably divided by political affiliations and beliefs. The Braille pages, difficult to draw on, difficult to keep lines straight, are reminders of the acute blindness that has overcome the President, his followers, the opposition, the media, the politicans and US residents- legal and otherwise. It represents fear and anger in the pitch darkness of fake news and fumbling attempts to decipher the bombshells of each new day. The President may seem isolated, but we are not much different.
Pussy Grabs Back
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May, 2017. Collage: cut up Sailor Moon girl hero posters and glossy pink paper. 18" x 24" framed.
American Blues
April, 2017. Indigo-dyed handmade paper and handmade Japanese momi paper. 32.5" width x 76" length.
An alt flag for dark times held together with safety pins. The pins represent individuals willing to stand in solidarity with vulnerable groups maligned by Trump.
An alt flag for dark times held together with safety pins. The pins represent individuals willing to stand in solidarity with vulnerable groups maligned by Trump.
Little Furious Monster (Voodoo Doll for Democrats)
February, 2017. Inkjet print on fabric with doll hair, pins and paper. Box contains artificial turf and flag fragment. 7" width x 9" height x 1" thick.
All those needles of resistance add up and not entirely through black magic either.
All those needles of resistance add up and not entirely through black magic either.
She Bleeds Garnets and Rubies
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September, 2016. Beaded, stained and embroidered sanitary napkins. Each piece 10"x 10" including frame.
The Holy Trinity of Megyn Kelly’s menstrual blood transformed into sacred jewels by Trump’s petulant curse, ‘You could see there was blood coming out of her wherever.’
The Holy Trinity of Megyn Kelly’s menstrual blood transformed into sacred jewels by Trump’s petulant curse, ‘You could see there was blood coming out of her wherever.’
