EMBODYING SOUL, ONE DAY & ONE GARMENT AT A TIME
I have known basically forever that daily creative and contemplative practice are essential to a life lived in connection with core presence and processes. I also know that how I show up in the world, physically, has impacts that resonate inward and outward. Everyday Regalia has become a way for me to weave together art-making, self-transformation, archetypal work, and curiosity about the worlds I move through.
Each of the projects outlined below has been undertaken during a devotional period of (often) 108 days. As I begin, I choose/am chosen by a garment. A guiding question arises. I commit myself to modifying the garment and wearing it everyday, to daily photography and writing, and to noticing how change arises within the container of these practices. Because Everyday Regalia pushes me to be present in very particular ways, it has dramatically expanded my sense of trust and playfulness. When I dare to fly my freak flag high – to show up to the tire store in a jumpsuit full of eyes, or to walk the frozen woods in a hand-stitched wedding dress – I discover again and again that I am wearing just the right ceremonial clothes to enter a loving, sacred, blazing world. I have extensive formal training and exhibition experience in the visual arts. Through Everyday Regalia I rediscover the wonder of daily, direct making.
Here, in most-to-least-recent order, are accounts of these projects.
Each of the projects outlined below has been undertaken during a devotional period of (often) 108 days. As I begin, I choose/am chosen by a garment. A guiding question arises. I commit myself to modifying the garment and wearing it everyday, to daily photography and writing, and to noticing how change arises within the container of these practices. Because Everyday Regalia pushes me to be present in very particular ways, it has dramatically expanded my sense of trust and playfulness. When I dare to fly my freak flag high – to show up to the tire store in a jumpsuit full of eyes, or to walk the frozen woods in a hand-stitched wedding dress – I discover again and again that I am wearing just the right ceremonial clothes to enter a loving, sacred, blazing world. I have extensive formal training and exhibition experience in the visual arts. Through Everyday Regalia I rediscover the wonder of daily, direct making.
Here, in most-to-least-recent order, are accounts of these projects.
Marian Apparitions (September 2022-ongoing)
Base garment:
Custom lined blue linen cape, created by Laura Aliukonyte of Sagittarius Craft Question: What would it be like to use self-portraiture and portraits of fellow pilgrims to create a collective, collaborative Marian Apparition along the Chemins de St. Jacques / Camino de Santiago? Modifications: Stars printed on cape lining, in honor of Our Lady of Guadeloupe Places worn: Boston Logan Airport walking from Le Puy en Velay ==>> Aumont-Aubrac walking from Conques ==>> Rocamadour Paris TBD more >> |
Ratna Time (February - July 2021)
Base garment: this is more of a whole-body regalia situation, incorporating all kinds of yellow finery from my costume and fabric stashes, including:
Question: What would it be like to embody Yellow, as an energy of abundance, groundedness, and transformation? Modifications:
Places worn: Still under COVID-19 limitations, in and around at home (Lebanon, NH). |
Queering the Black Coat (January-May 2020)
Base garment: priest's cassock (thrift store)
Question: In this life, what has the Black Coat meant to me? How might I subvert and re-embody its patriarchal stories, in ways that resonate with my own sense of the sacred-ordinary world? Modifications: daily stream-of-consciousness running stitch ornamentation, mostly in ecru thread. Places worn: Wonderwell Mountain Refuge (Springfield, NH). Family vacation (Palm Desert, CA). 5 Rhythms Heartbeat workshop (Bethesda, MD). My therapy practice (Hanover, NH). In COVID-19 quarantine (Lebanon, NH). More>> |
Loa La Sirène (march-september 2019)
Base garment: US Navy Petty Officer Third Class woman medic's jacket (thrift store)
Question: What happens when the Ocean, healing, my ancestors, the Haitian Vaudou deity Loa La Sirène, and military culture are sutured together? Modifications: Removed sleeve linings, rank markings, buttons. Opened two sets of seams in sleeves. Sutured one set closed, left others open to form cape. Lined sleeve slits with dark navy velvet ribbon. Replaced existing buttons with Royal Swedish Yacht Club buttons from my grandfather's blazer. Stitched vévé (symbol) of La Sirène on back of garment. Replaced existing rank markings with modified Army badge: red lightning rising from ground into sky (see left). Modified existing medic patch to include waves. Places worn: IEATA conference (Berkeley, CA). My therapy practice (Hanover, NH). AKA when wearing: Sergeant Pepper |
No Rank (January-April 2019)
Base garment: Vietnam War era US Army jacket (thrift store) Secondary garment: Red satin négligée (thrift store) Question: There is a true person of no rank constantly coming and going through the holes in your face. Who is she? Modifications: Removed all stuffing, lining, rank markings, buttons. Stitching white stars onto jacket and négligée. Négligée will become new lining for jacket sleeves, now open as cape. Places worn: Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, home. (I have not yet completely figured out how to show up in the world in this one. I think the process is changing.) More >> |
108 Eyes (September-December 2018)
Base garment: French double-zip factory worker's jumpsuit (online industrial supply site, Amazon) Question: What would it be like to be awake throughout the entire body? Modifications: Photographed the eyes of people I know well and made drawings from the photographs. Transferred these onto the jumpsuit and stitched them in. Printed gold and silver eyes on the sleeves and pockets. Sewed a secret pink felt erection onto the inside central flap of the Suit. Places worn: Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Paris, and Boston Airports. Tire Warehouse, Upper Valley Aquatic Center, Gory Daze Halloween Ball (White River Junction, VT). Wal-Mart and Home Depot parking lots (West Lebanon, NH). A book version of 108 Eyes is available through Just So Press/Blurb. More >> |
Warrior Suit, Healer Suit (March-July 2018)
Base garment: WWII era American Red Cross Service nurse's uniform (vintage shop) Question: Can transforming this nurse's suit into a Dakini suit be a path towards embodying fully awake, sexual, warrior-like, compassionate feminine wisdom? Modifications: Stitched a garland of severed heads around the waist and a garland of bone-ornaments around the skirt. Printed and stitched flames around the hem in the colors of the Five Buddha Families. Printed and stitched a mandala of the Five Buddha Families on the seat. Turned the nurse's cap into a Dakini crown with flaming skulls. Places worn: Goddard College, Wonderwell Mountain Refuge, my therapist's office, the woods at the top of our hill, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies. A book version of Warrior Suit, Healer Suit is available through Just So Press/Blurb. More >> |
The White Dress Project (September 2017-January 2018)
Base garment: Simple silk dupioni wedding dress (flea market) Question: How can this dress be a catalyst for re-marrying myself into a new relationship with my own embodied sexuality? Modifications: Found and traced fallen leaves onto dress. Traced and stitched branch from fallen beech tree onto back of skirt. Stitched leaf-and-flame adorned Sacred Heart on back of bodice. Traced and stitched fern frond on front of skirt. Places worn: Navajo Nation, Hopi Second Mesa, Hovenweep, Mesa Verde, Flagstaff. St. Louis, Phoenix, and Boston Airports. Lausanne. Sisters of the Presentation of Mary convent and C.R.E.A.T.E! Center for Expressive Arts (Manchester, NH). Second College Grant. A book version of The White Dress Project is available through Just So Press/Blurb. More >> |