9.5"W x 27.5"H x 11.5" D
My series of cash registers started with the sewing of faux dollar bills. Having sewn several "bills" I needed a way to display them and started building cash registers. The cash registers were built out of cardboard and book cloth with sewn panels adhered to their exteriors. These boxes became reliquaries of a sort, reminiscent of sixteenth century English embroidered caskets, in which prized possessions were housed.
9.5"W x 27.5"H x 11.5" D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
Fowl Lucre was built with a taller, leaner, pointier form to mimic avian anatomy. A round opening has been included in the top portion of the box, not unlike the opening in a bird house, where a "nest" and "egg" reside. All the "bird bills" housed in this cash register feature bird portraits in profile view, highlighting their beaks. Several "chicken feed" coins are also included.
14"W x 18" H x 13"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
The Bills of Mortality box came from reading about early death certificates, also known as "bills of mortality". Imagery was inspired by early tombstone design. The "eye coins" are in reference to when coins were placed over the eyes of the dead, to pay for the trip to the underworld.
14"W x 18"H x 14"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
The Black Forest Till is reminiscent of black forest wood carving originating in the Swiss Alps and popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These carvings often depicted hunting scenes populated with a variety of forest animals. This box is filled with "buck bills" and "acorn coins".
15"W x 13"H x 15"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
This cash register was my first. The bills here were directly influenced by currency both domestic and foreign. Here, as in all the bills created in this series, there was a desire to make more "money" stemming from my own insecurities around finances.
11"W x25"H x 11"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
My fortune themed boxes took shape following my fascination with how the element of chance comes into play in our lives. Some of us have more good luck, others more bad luck.
14"W x 19"H x 14"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint
This box is modeled after antique arcade machines. Here the "player" spins the dial on top of the box. The number the spinner lands on determines the drawer to open, revealing the players future spouse. Whether you get a woman or a man is left up to chance.
19"W x 25"H x 6.75"D
Cardboard, Book Cloth, Thread, Lint, Milk Tokens
This box is double sided, opening on either side to reveal pockets containing dairy "relics", objects of another time elevated to holy status.
4.5"H x 3.25"W panels
Thread, Lint
4.5"H x 3.25"W panels
Thread, Lint
5.25"H x 4"W panels
Thread, Lint, Milk Tokens, Milk Caps
3.75"H x 3.5"W panels
Thread, Lint, Milk Tokens, Milk Caps
3.75"H x 3.5"W panels
Thread, Lint, Milk Tokens, Milk Caps
60"W x 48"H
Milk Caps, Embroidery Floss
This draped wall piece is comprised of milk caps stitched together with embroidery floss. The color of embroidery floss, along with the choice of milk caps used, helps to accentuate the illusion of a smooth color gradient from blue to orange.
60"W x 48"H
Milk Caps, Embroidery Floss
12" W x 14"H x 12"D
Pencils, Spools, Thread, Thimbles, gears, Tart Pans, Washers, Maps
This sculpture bears witness to the fading usage of the non-photo blue pencil in the graphic arts, as well as to the very nature of the material itself, meant to lay down marks that would themselves disappear when photographed. This is an elegy to times past, singing the blues of a bygone technology.
