ARTIST STATEMENT

I am intrigued and inspired by dieties, royalty and pop culture icons and how their garments contribute to their presence and personal power. Is the function of their fashion to reveal, conceal, protect or invent the wearer’s identity and belief system?

The “I should be…” armor series explores this question, specifically as it relates to women. Growing up in the South, there were expectations about how a successful woman should be. “I should be nice,” is the first rule of southern charm. The larger cultural expectations dictate that women should be sexy, or skinny, have babies, careers, etc., sometimes pushing us to illness or outrageous surgeries.

We armor ourselves against the onslaught of family, media and cultural messages, protecting the vulnerability of the ideal self. Until our true values can emerge from behind the curtain, the ceramic armor serves as a façade of adorned fragility.

The decorated armor addresses the issues of human development as we make choices about rules for living. “I should be nice”, uses rose thorns to show the paradox of how difficult “nice” can sometimes be. Later in the series, becoming a better person is explored as shown by the happiness of wax lips, the spirituality of horse symbolism, and the good fortune of a cookie.

The fragility of the utilitarian object of war being sculpted of clay suggests our temporary nature as we invent and protect our authentic self.  We can break free from the messages that do not ring true for us. “Our personal armor is made up of habits and fears, and we can begin to let those go, to claim our warriorship.”
– Pema Chodron