May 1 - June 2, 2019
Opening Reception:
Friday, May 3, 6 pm - 8:30 pm
“Father and Son:
A Poetry and Violin Collaboration”
Celebrating the 35th Anniversary
of the Vermont Studio Center
Featuring VSC President Gary Clark, poetry,
and his son Roland, violin
Saturday, May 11, 1 pm
Free and open to the public
Laurie Alpert
”Point of Departure”
Jemison Faust
”Are You Saying Yes to the Dress?”
Laurie Alpert: “Point of Departure”
In 2017, my son took a trip to Peru. Knowing my obsession with the bar of soap that had influenced the work which was exhibited in my 2017 solo show, he brought me a bar of Peruvian soap.
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The obsession persisted. Once again, the origin is inconsequential—it is the alteration that gives the image its new life.
Jemison Faust: “Are You Saying Yes to the Dress?”
In nightly TV surfing after a long day in the studio, I often come across amusing, strange and appalling shows that spur creativity for the next series of small sculptural objects.
Some shows like Say Yes to the Dress, a reality show profiling brides and their family searching for the perfect dress, exhibit all the drama of unrealistic expectations. A final question to the bride is always “Are you saying yes to the dress?”
Some shows like Botched follow two doctors as they remedy plastic surgeries gone wrong or dissuade others from adding to their already warped sense of beauty.
Others shows like Project Runway focus on fashion design and the competition between contestants who, when not eliminated, are told “You’re safe. You may leave the runway.”
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I love these shows and can’t wait to get back to the studio to see how my brain will process all the drama and weirdness of these worlds.
In the studio I transform materials that already have their own history: a muscleman toy missing an arm, a mesh bag that once held onions, the silicone insides of a computer, a doll with no hair.
I add to these objects: thread, tulle, yarn, quilting pins, spray paint, acrylic paint, Styrofoam.
I ask myself: Does Batman perhaps need a wedding dress? Can Styrofoam become a beautiful breast yet still partake of the underlying trauma from plastic surgery? Does this ordinary old plastic toy want to strut down the runway? Does Barbie need a different wedding dress because she is sick of being Barbie?
This exhibition is a series of small sculptural objects, many figurative, inspired by the themes found in these TV reality shows.