Mixed Media Textile Art
In 1965 when I was 17 years old and 78.5 inches tall, I was surgically shortened 6" with the intention of giving me a normal life. Additionally, I was forbidden by my father from ever talking about it. By middle age I found my voice through a four-year art project which became known as the Tall Girl Series: A Body of Work. My intention for the series was not one of laying blame but of understanding, grieving and acceptance of the debilitation brought about by these surgeries.
This series highlights the 50+ years since the three surgeries that broke my body, nearly crushed my spirit and forever changed my life. This is a story of courage, healing and acceptance. Completion of the Tall Girl Series: A Body of Work resulted in a self-published book (out of print), a PowerPoint presentation and a traveling exhibit of 23 textile art pieces.
Later, two more pieces in the Defining Moments Series followed up on the Tall Girl Series.
They are #11 Shadow Self and #12 NO Means NO
59″ x 34″ There were several boys who delighted in teasing me. The one depicted in this piece lay in wait after-school and pelted me with rocks while taunting, ‘how’s the weather up there?’ photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, CO 2011 Park National Bank Gallery, UC Clermont […]
47″ x 34″ Nearly every day someone comments on my body. I have heard every possible question, joke and intrusive comment about my stature. Mom always said these folks “meant well,” as if to excuse their rude behavior. photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, CO 2011 Park […]
39″ x 30″ When I was 16 I got a part-time job at a department store, behind the gift wrapping counter. Often people would step behind the counter and ask what are you standing on back there? I always thought it such a silly question, and would respond, my feet! hand-dyed, discharged, screen-printed with images of my foot […]
47″ x 38″ My parents maintained it was my decision to have the surgeries while I questioned how a 17 yr old would be allowed to make such a life-altering decision? This piece reflects my confusion over the decision-making process and questions who is accountable? digital images, screen-printed, photo transfers, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community […]
68″ x 38″ While friends were busy chatting about SAT scores, college choices and prom, I was contemplating suicide. I was 17 with no self-esteem and felt my only options were to have the surgeries or kill myself. digitally printed text, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, CO 2011 […]
18″ x 29″ (detail) As the surgeon described the proposed procedures to my mother and I, he went into graphic detail about the potential of my losing a lot of blood. I passed out! torn bed sheets, screen-printed, machine-stitched
30″ x 16″ This is what I envisioned my interior to look like when six inches of veins, arteries and nerves are jammed into an area 6″ shy of its former length. hand-dyed, screen-printed with early Tall Girl Series imagery, machine-stitched
33″ x 32″ Adding insult to injury I was raped on a blind date, my freshman year of college. vintage linen dinner napkin; mono-print, dye painted, hand-dyed, screen-printed, machine-stitched
36″ x 49″ The real reason I dropped out of college was I registered only for classes close to the dorm. Just one year post-op, I had neither strength nor balance to negotiate the slippery terrain of northern Utah. screen-printed, Angelina fibers, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, […]
70″ x 33″ When in my 20’s, my surgeon a professor at a teaching hospital, often asked me to walk on a table for the benefit of educating medical students. This piece exemplifies my humiliation of parading in my underwear in front of countless sets of eyes. Finally, I said no more. I am not a […]
31″ x 35″ From the day I was surgically altered until I was 35 years old, I never spoke of the “procedures.” This piece is about living in denial & refusing to talk about it. The lips are stitched shut signifying my silence, with the years reflected in 5 year bundles. machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, […]
29″ x 39″ The volume and depth of my rage was unknown until it began to surface. Rage from having been cut to be made “normal” combined with not being allowed to show anger, built up in me like dynamite. purchased hand-dyed fabrics, machine-stitched
43″ x 61″ On a visit to the emergency room in excruciating pain, I was asked, “on a scale of 1 to 10″ what is the pain? I said “the pain is off the scale; it is a 14” to which the nurse repeated, “on a scale of 1 to 10, what is the pain?” hand-dyed silk […]
71″ x 40″ This piece exemplifies the freedom I finally felt as a middle-aged woman having done the work of grieving, understanding, and acceptance of the debilitation brought to my body as a result of these surgeries over 40 years ago. hand-dyed, screen-printed, machine-stitched exhibits: Angers Catholic University, FR 2014 Université Catholique de l\’Ouest, Library, […]
33″ x 31″ A very difficult aspect for me to comprehend has been the inability of my family to acknowledge how these surgeries broke my body, burdened me with daily pain and placed so many limitations on my lifestyle. Some compassion would have been lovely. manipulated family photo, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, […]
41″ x 40″ I have often wondered what would have become of me, had I not had the surgeries; with no plans for my life, other than surgery or suicide. This piece looks at where I actually did go. The road not taken is a big question mark. digitally printed text, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, […]
32” x 61” Had I self-esteem instead of surgery, I could’ve been many things: a professional women’s basketball player, a high-fashion model or a professional volleyball player. photo transfers, machine-stitched Photo credit: Greg Gardea Photography exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, CO 2011 Park National Bank Gallery, UC Clermont College, OH 2011 Pacific International […]
63″ x 41″ Finally I began to feel closure for my long-repressed story. The symbolism of a 6″ horizontal cut in the center combines with the vertical patchwork of my limbs. tallgirl imagery, hand-dyed, discharged, screen-printed, machine-stitched
73″ x 31″ Long before the invention of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), steel plates were screwed to my bones to reconnect them. They remain there today. With the advent of the MRI, a doctor once told me I would be at risk for internal fire if I had one. Actually, that turned out to be false […]
55″ x 31″ Years of physical therapy failed to shrink six inches of muscle and left me weak and defeated. Today I am stronger than ever due to consistent exercise, although I still cannot run, dance or ski with atrophied muscles. In my wildest dreams I am a competitor. Angelina fiber, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, […]
39″ x 43″ One of my earliest tall-girl imagery screens was enlarged letters of R-R-O from the word sorrow. This piece is about the dance with, and resolution of my sorrow. hand-dyed, discharged over-dyed, screen-printed, machine-stitched
44″ x 45″ I sat down to write my story and soon there were over 22,000 words. I had so many stories, I just kept writing. In the end it doesn’t matter if it is legible. I know what it says. digitally-printed words, gesso, screen-printed, machine-stitched exhibits: Wiseman Gallery, Rogue Community College, OR 2010 Denver National Quilt Festival, CO […]
Writing The Tall Girl Series: A Body of Work* transformed my life. I designed 23 quilts to illustrate my words; which then went out into the world through six exhibits. The work informed and educated hundreds of people about the downsides of cosmetic surgery, our cultural obsession with appearances, and speaking one’s truth. Viewers often thought […]
55″ x 26″ Imagining the chemical interactions of the various creams, gels and lotions the aging woman must apply to her body to maintain her youthful glow. digital text, machine stitched photo credit: Gregory Case Photography
