Ideation and Documentation
I was originally going to create a 17th Century Court Dress and perform in it at the end of year art show. I found a fantastic pair of curtains for 6 dollars at the thrift store. They are sage green with gold embroidery. I found another piece of striped gold fabric costing $3 for the underskirt. I also found a pattern to make the Grand Pannier undergarment to hold the dress shape.
Instructor Angela was very interested in the foundation garment. What was hidden under all that fabric was very interesting indeed. This is where things evolved (changed). I was talking about the construction of the undergarment, and thought of using plastic pipe for underneath. Instructor Angela whipped out a roll of 6″ metal flashing and said “What about this?” Challenge accepted! There is a big metal sheet cutter, and a metal bender in the studio. I got to work measuring out a piece of metal 48′ long. I then measured and cut this into 3 long 2″ strips. I then folded each strip in half creating a sturdy 1′ folded strip that was 4 feet long. I made 9 of these.
I have a dress mannequin on a stand that I will be using for supporting the structure. I am going to construct right onto the mannequin using rivets to put everything together in place. I also modified my original design.
Once built, I tried it on. I used some plastic to drape the form and had a little walk. I brought it all home that afternoon. I needed time to think about it. The weather has been cold and grey. What is the next step with this? What is this about?
A sunny day and a window of about one hour to get some pictures. I have some ideas in my head, and some of them involve nudity. I will have my husband Nick take some photos today and see what I can get and how I can put them together. Maybe a video?
I was familiar with the App Videoleap from the last unit, so thought I can make a video and use it with the piece. As I created, my mind thought about Body Issues, Eating Disorders, Fashion and Cultural Appropriation, and Misogyny. I ended up using naked photos of myself in parts of this video. I have released all Self Judgements of my Body and Myself. This process has been very Cathartic for me.
I would like to have the video loop on a small Ipad mini that is around the neck of the dressmakers form like a necklace. Only problem is how to get the ipad mini to loop. I have the video loaded on it, but no looping abilities. Worst case scenario, I use an old Iphone. The screen is small, but it will play a 6 hour loop of my video.
After many days of frustration, I did manage to make and load a 45 min video of my video playing over and over. The Ipad mini just doesn’t have the capacity to loop, or play longer videos. People can push the button on the screen to play video If It has ended.
Artist Statement
I realize how consumed I have been all my life with Body Image and Diet Culture. Always striving to be thinner and fit the Beauty Standards of my time.
My interest in 17th century fashion was the inspiration for this piece. The court dresses required huge caged panniers to support their shape. Using metal instead of whale bone, I cut and riveted my own grand pannier out of metal flashing.
I created a video to explore further my ideas about Diet and Beauty Culture and their relationship to Body Image, and the toxicity of Fashion and its Appropriation, Dehumanization, and Misogyny for women. This project has been so cathartic that it has allowed me to proudly bare it all to you. To finally break free from the cage I created and be me. Karen Day
seems to be a problem with my arty nudity…
Let’s see if it crashes WordPress.