Where were we at the start of pandemic, and where are we now? What's next for us in the United States? There is a lot to consider: corrupt politicians, 1% vs. 99%, conspiracy theories, Jan 6, white supremacy, isolation, tech shifts, fake news, wars, women's rights, immigration, workers rights, the Big Quit, rising costs, and this feeling that we need a break. We are processing, trying to understand, and keep up with the social, political, and personal changes that have happened and are happening as a result of the past seven years. The work included in Tipping Point is a collection of objects in response to an atmosphere of change.

While domestic and world events continue to unfold, we are amid subtle and sometimes invisible trends and changes in our families, work lives, and human interactions. The work in Tipping Point seeks to notice our current atmosphere and ask questions about where we are.

This piece is based on Simplicity Pattern #8406 Yellow Disney Princess.

Growing up in the era of Disney movies "Snow White", "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty," I absorbed all the stereotypical feminine ideals of beauty. When I saw this pattern, I wanted to create a piece that would respond to these ideals of appearance over substance.

I followed the smallest size pattern (waist 23”) and used synthetic yellow felt because it’s synthetic quality aligned with my feelings about the pattern. The heaviness of the felt as the layers got thicker and the way the material resisted the pattern in places was an important part of the process.

Sewing the dress was a physical, performative layer of the piece. The portraits of people from all areas of my life wearing the dress, fundamentally alter the princess pattern by re-presenting the feminine stereotypes. Personal identity and cultural memory combine to redefine the yellow dress as many things more generous. Time and experience, the collective and private aspects of ourselves expressed through a pattern, fabric, and action created change.

My thanks to my friends, Tori Burns, master seamstress, who helped me make the dress, Dianne Schlies, for suggesting the next step to do a series of portraits, and to everyone who shared their stories and posed for me.

Ghosts appear frequently in my work and I trace it back to an experience I had in 1989 at a open mic poetry event when a woman got on the stage to read, started, stumbled, and started again. "...the soul is a sheet with two holes for eyes..." is how I remember the poem opening. It was a beautiful poem. I was very moved and felt protective of her when a group of hecklers in the back of the room mocked her. She rushed out of the room before I could meet her, affirm her, her fear, her poem, her courage to stop and start and see it to the end. This experience is at the core of a persistent image in my work.

This too shall pass is a Persian saying thought to have originated in the writings of the medieval Persian Sufi poets that reflects on the temporary, ephemeral nature of moments or happenings in our lives, good and bad. Wikipedia

Remembrance. The act of remembering or holding a person or thing in mind.