Project 1: Assemblage
Collect at least two found materials/everyday objects, reflect on their their meaning or context, put them together to create a new object/image that carries new meaning
And then….
Sarah warned us this would happen…something unexpected comes along…in my case I was a visit to a dear friend who offered me a shimmery maroon bedspread!
All of a sudden I saw a coat. As I let my ideas grow, I imagined making a big , cozy, zero waste coat on the theme of ‘Building Safety’.
The idea of building safety comes from my experiences with PTSD and the healing that is ongoing. A big part of this is finding safe places, both physically and emotionally in which I can grow and heal. So the garment will be symbolic of this.
As I read up on zero waste coats, I discovered several mentions of a bog coat or bog jacket that is based on a 2,000 year old bronze age garment. This got me even more excited!
I thought about what kind of symbols I might be able to incorporate. As I mulled over what other object I could combine in this assemblage, I recalled an old vegetable steamer that has a piece that persistently falls off despite my best efforts at repair. I envisaged dismantling this and sewing the individual fins onto the back of the coat in a sunshine or shield array to represent courage and strength. So I took the steamer apart and washed the pieces well.
It just happens that this steamer belonged to my Grandma May who has been showing up as a source of support and love in my life and art lately, despite being long departed. This gives a sacred aspect to the object and added meaning to my garment.
I may add more objects to the assemblage but for now this is a start. For example I have some old dog tags from my last dog, Kenzie and my present dog, Magnus, that might be fun to include.