Another chair, my first wig.

Why the hell are we conditioned into the smooth strawberry-and-cream Mother-Goose-world, Alice-in-Wonderland fable, only to be broken on the wheel as we grow older and become aware of ourselves as individuals with a dull responsibilty in life?



I desire the things that will destroy me in the end.


What horrifies me the most is the idea of being useless:well-educated, brilliantly promising, and fading out into an indifferent middle age.

Why can't I try on different lives, like dresses, to see which one fits me and is most becoming?

                                                                  ~Sylvia Plath

How powerful is a portrait, and how limited it is at the same time. Limiting, because it only shows the exterior and not whats happening within. For this project, I found a lot of inspiration from the poet Sylvia Plath. I felt a connection with her words and quotes and felt like she knew me down to the core. I felt like Sylvia knew how to word all the different facets of human emotion that usually are left unsaid.

It made me think a lot about the exterior and beauty. The battle of being a woman trying to grow up and facing reality. I wanted to create something that showed the weight of perfection and the inner battle within.

Instead of Sylvia's poetry which dates from the 50's- I thought about the romantic time of corsets and dance cards, big hair and the importance placed on family names: specifically the 17th-late 18th century. Sure, there was a lot of romance thinking about the era of chivalry and their eloquent way of speaking. But it made me think of the non fairy tale side of life-even in a time of grand estates and riding horseback. 

Though times have changed, I think that there are some raw emotions and happenstances that are universal: depression, loneliness, mid life crisis'...quarter life crisis, the weight of growing up, crushed dreams, bitterness, regret, and expectations that can't be met.

A photograph can hide things things. Make up and fancy clothes can mask. So I decided to create a vignette that my classmates can put themselves into. I want to create a scene that perhaps would be photographed, drawn, or painted.

thus, a huge wig and seating arrangement that any one who views the piece can sit or lie down, and feel like they are the person who would be sitting there and wearing that wig. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaise_longue

The wig will be larger than the normal size, and suspended in the air. 

for my mold, I have these shells that actually date back to the era's I have been so inspired from. They are called Chesapecten Jeffersonius...and here's a little description.

Chesapecten Jeffersonius- The state fossil of Virginia and the first fossil described in North America in 1687! It's the fossilized form of an extinct scallop. It flourished in the Chesapeake Bay area from Eastover to Yorktown time (8-3 million years ago.) Found in valleys and on river beaches of Virginia and Eastern North Carolina, my Dad and I found these shells in a ravine nearby Colonial Williamsburg.

 I'm going to mix molds of these shells into the wig to add texture and a "breakable" feeling to it.

Here's an ottoman I picked up that I might use for my seating arrangement.