The ruffles of “Affection” were generated from personal experiences: my love for my daughters as a mother and my commitment to craft and life as an artist. With the exceptional time and energy demands of each capacity, these roles can seem difficult to balance. Both are essential to my life; “Affection” sprang from my desire to reconcile these apparently conflicting responsibilities.

Ruffles are symbolic of the conflation of femininity with the decorative and the domestic. I transformed the familiar material of everyday life, cotton into long, gathered extensions of the feminine. The continuous strands of ruffles suggest something visceral, organic, like umbilical cords tying together child and mother, art and life, domestic and public. When the strands hang loosely and undulate, they suggest the internal qualities of the body.  Tightly wound, they provide a floral, botanical feel, providing motherly comfort and tranquility.

 

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