Make Time | 2014
Plenum Space Gallery | Kansas City, MO

This body of work began as an exploration of materials relating to daily routines. Bringing light to these discarded objects, I regard them as both collective detritus and evidence of time spent. By hand-stitching each element together, the work becomes a physical record of time first through the material and its original use and again through the practice of hand-sewing. Through quantity and repetition the material is transformed into something else entirely. The large sewn panels constructed from hundreds of individual sheets become like an indefinite quilted calendar.

Throughout this process I became interested in both the peculiarity of my chosen material and with how I was spending my time. Disposable and mass-produced, the dryer sheet may be an unlikely object to be elevated to the status of art object; despite this perception, I discovered them to be a visually interestingn and unapologetic souvenir of a universal task. I playfully began to contemplate the parallels between quotidian domestic routines (such as doing one’s laundry) and my own studio practice, admitting that even the artistic process can sometimes become rote. Both forms of work can either be considered tedious and repetitive, or rather therapeutic and gratifying.

A series of twelve calendar months is stitched into single used dryer sheets using pure spun silk thread. In these delicate forms the disposable and artificial qualities of the dryer sheets contrast with the luxury and preciousness of the silk embroidery. As representations of future time, they can be regarded as something to either waste or cherish. Further, the objects themselves can be viewed simply as a calendar to be discarded at the end of the year (or the end of the cycle) or as an art object to be held in some higher regard.