New Work

Lately, when speaking with people about my thesis work I direct the conversation to the clothing we are wearing. Inevitably, the person I'm speaking with, or myself, is wearing a garment that has a surface design, a pattern or a graphic printed on it. What if that pattern or graphic actually meant something beyond evidencing a personal style or the social status of the wearer? Instantly people understand where I'm trying to go.

This concept of communicative patterning can extend to any patterned textile, and that’s how I translated these ideas into the pre-stained tablecloth in the photos.
On one hand it is a funny design idea. A person could purchase a tablecloth patterned with silkscreened stains; they could feel free to add their own stain, (tea, wine, food) to the linen covering their table.
The initial idea was a way to find beauty in a simple (or frequent!) accident and prevent the irritation of always washing stains out of old linens. As I thought about it more, the pattern communicated something about the user. This person has a sense of humor, or perhaps they were so neurotic that in their mind this was a REAL solution. I think it communicates something about our culture and the persistence of domestic ideals, such as maintaining a clean and orderly home.

"In pre-Industrial society, pattern on garments was a form of communication and held great symbolic significance. Embroidered pattern was a form of text and could serve to covey the various beliefs of a society from wishing a bride good luck in a marriage to protecting a child from bad spirits. Today, pattern has little of that cultural significance left, yet it is re-emerging in art and design, ready to shake off a reputation of being merely ornamental.Much of my MFA thesis research has been on the social implications of dress and the psychological impact of material and pattern. I see contemporary textile design as a site holding great potential to re-insert ritual and meaning into everyday fabric"(Thesis Writing).