These are the remains: deconstructed, wrinkled silk clothing parts and a man’s carefully curated tie collection. Like vibrant globs of leftover paint, these fabrics call, “Look at me. Use me. I’m important. I’m not done yet.”
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71 H X 50 W in, 2018
Art quilt: deconstructed vintage ties from one man's collection, interlinings of wool, linen, cotton, and rayon; outer tie fabrics of silk, wool , and cotton on muslin backing, hand embroidered, machine quilted.
69 H W 50 W in, 2018
Art quilt: found fabrics(recycled deconstructed silk clothing parts), sari fabrics, collaged on cotton canvas, hand embroidered, machine quilted.
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Clothing has character: a personality and evidence of time and place. Even these disembodied cuffs come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
Collecting and recycling women’s fashion has been a part of my studio work for over twenty years. In the continuation of this series, I am examining the concept of quilt to consider ready-made objects that already exist with three layers. On the other hand, I am still working within traditional quilt boundaries of unit structure, fabric, recycling and stitching with thread.
The shapes of clothing pattern pieces are still ingrained in my experience of making and wearing clothes. For years I sewed these pieces together. Now, I take them apart. Many blouses and dresses have sacrificed their cuffs and shoulder pads for these works and I am in their debt.
The Body Parts collection was shown at the Dairy Barn Art Center in 2017. Learn more about the artist’s inspiration in this video.
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Benner in her studio with work in progress.
90 H X 89 W X .5 D in, two-sided, 2016
Cuffs (silk, polyester, interfacing, buttons), thread, machine stitched/quilted
90 H X 91 W X 1.5 D in, two-sided, 2016
Shoulder pads (silk, cotton, polyester, padding), embroidery floss, embellishments; machine embroidered, machine and hand stitched, hand tied
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81 H X 61 W in, 2007
Dye and paint on silk and cotton, found fabrics, fused, monoprinted, machine quilted
Collection of Maureen and John Hendricks, Gateway Canyons Resort, Gateway CO
Deconstructed clothing gives reference to a segmented human form, while gestural drawings mimic cellular organisms as an animated hint at the underlying structure of the figure. My background in biomedical science inspires artwork concerned with the human body and the microscopic universe.
Even though this piece was finished in 2007, it led me into the idea of using deconstructed clothing as the main element for the new pieces in this series - Cuffed and Padded (2016).
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