Schism

Here is another assignment for Pamela's class.  This was for the mixed media assignment, in which we were challenged to create a piece that was 50% ceramic, 50% mixed media. 

I have had this idea in my head for a while.  I picked up a Home Economics handbook from Good Cents that was from the 1950's, and with Mad Men always on my Netflix queue, I have had the idea of women's roles and the schism between the public and private spheres stuck in my head.  While flipping through the handbook, I was really interested in the words that they used to describe household chores and what they mean when taken out of context- rules, separate, beat, method... I took these words, along with others, and wanted to put them inside an icon of female craft- the embroidery hoop- and recreate the idea of sewing.

Originally, I was going to have all ceramic circles within the hoops, but I found that incorporating fabrics with traditional, soft patterns would compliment the ceramic slabs, which were worked to have a very subtle lace texture through acrylic paint.  I took the idea of female identity to the next level by incorporating the hair of myself and loved ones, as well as synthetic hair in slabs which needed a hefty amount of hair.

A detail with the braided hair of my sister and myself.

Human hair, thread, fabric.

Synthetic hair and fabric.

Thread and synthetic hair.

The hoops are 4.25" in diameter and 12.5" in diameter.

White earthenware, fabric, embroidery hoops, thread, synthetic hair, human hair.