In the last post, we mentioned the "content heavy" work of Vadis Turner now on view at Quirk. Below are the artist's thoughts about her work's significance. Be sure to check it out for yourself during this week's First Friday Art Walk...
"Derby Blanket" is part of Turner's "The Last Dowry," now showing at Quirk.
Vadis Turner- Artist Statement
There is a transformative legacy in handmade objects historically made by women. Over time ancestral forms of crafts appreciate in value, maturing into heirlooms that function as cultural currency and which later, as artifacts, serve as a documentation of the artist and her origins. My work engages this progression in a current cultural context.
I am developing a collection of contemporary heirlooms that compose my Dowry. The pre-nuptial heirlooms re-imagine conventional handicrafts, rites of passage and gender roles that represent the values of my generation.
Traditionally exchanged for societal advancement through marriage, the individual heirlooms that comprise my Dowry will be sold or traded for professional gain.
Last Dowry draws from ornamentation and ceremonial adornments used to honor the apex of beauty, fertility or physical potential. It often marks the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. The works bridge various stages of growth and decay. With fire, a new beautiful energy is being created from a destructive process.
These "hair eggs" are also part of "The Last Dowry."
