USA Projects

Double Doily has already been partially funded by the Manhattan Community Arts fund and the New York City Department of Transportation in partnership with the Downtown Alliance.

The money I raise will help me complete the project. I will use it for fabrication costs, delivery, installation and documentation.

Double doily will be my first metal public piece and is intended to enliven a gritty urban

Setting by bringing to mind comforting references to home. Doilies were invented by industrious women to hide and protect worn and frayed furnishings (maybe feelings too). Help bring Double Doily to the land of concrete, soaring skyscrapers and right angles.

Double Doily is a direct outgrowth of my first outdoor installation at Socrates Sculpture Park in 2009. This is when I first began translating doily patterns into computer drawings lasers could read. I like the idea of taking something small and intimate and turning it into something very large and public.

My approach continues to be informed by the idea of “The Thread of Culture” Until a generation ago, almost everyone had a hand in handwork. Women, especially, knitted, crocheted and embroidered, and girls learned by example. In a society rent by gender roles, boys were surrounded by handwork, even if they typically did not follow—except in maritime communities or in Boy Scouts, where they plied nets, made knots and strung lines. Perhaps there was a tailor in the family, or someone who made clothes out of necessity or pleasure. We, all of us, had a connection to the collective tissue of our lives. Of course we still wear clothing and sleep between sheets, but not everyone interacts consciously with cloth because we are now so removed from the warp and weft of it. Laundry? Maybe. Mending? Not so much. Who spins yarn anymore? Who weaves?

My goal is to integrate the flavor of domestic handiwork into the built environment. Perhaps craft demonstrates a mastery that art and architecture cannot fully penetrate, that is a certain familiarity with domestic materials that unpretentiously integrate us with our fragile environment and, in turn, revives sustainable traditions that are closely tied to our hopes and dreams.

Double Doily is the beginning of my exploration of needlework inspired three-dimensional forms in fabricated metal. My goal is expand this exploration to new forms and structures while maintaining domestic references. I feel it’s important to create a feeling of handmade craft in the city where almost everything is hard and full of right angles.

I thank you for your interest and welcome your generous support.