On Memory
There is memory in the things we make – the materials for a specific project, the creation techniques, the design of the object. In the evolution of an artistic practice over time, skill sets are learned and refined, leading from slow and methodical to adept and with speed. Sewing is a practice-based, cumulative artistic skill whose outcomes from technique samples to completed projects contain memory for the maker. I started sewing when I was young, but it wasn’t until a swimwear assignment in my undergraduate fashion education that I learned about stretch fabrics. I recall it being a daunting concept – we as a class were accustomed to working with wovens and the thought of using swimwear fabrics was intimidating, as they behave differently and require special kinds of construction techniques. As soon as I worked through the trial and error of assembling my project, however, I was hooked. Spandex fabrics made sense to me immediately, and ultimately became the basis of my senior collection. I learned (through much trial and error) how to work with the fabrics and how they would move with the body. Shortly after graduation, I began working as a stitcher for a youth circus, building costumes for their summer tour.
The costumes I recall most vividly were those involving spandex, and I spent many hours appliqueing cut out shapes onto unitard bases. When fitting time came and we began to make necessary alterations, the scraps left over became artistic complements to our outfits, and we would wear cut off unitard hems on our arms as a sort of uniform, throwing on a little metallic spandex piece we called our bands of power.
These appliqued spandex scraps became a way for me to re-use textile waste into new forms, and I incorporated the technique over the years whenever I had some leftover scraps, evolving with my skill sets to create head bands, gloves, and garment pieces.
In the image above, I can identify fabrics from specific projects over the last 19 years, including metallic turquoise from my high school senior prom dress, tropical leaf print from the circus gig, solid spandex in red, orange, and ecru from my senior collection. It is clear to me now, reflecting back, that the technique has continued to inform my work over time as shown in the piecing technique of the SweetHeart mask (#7/20). To this day my favorite task in sewing is to applique spandex to spandex, something I find meditative due to its familiarity.
The Memory Mask
The Memory mask is created from armbands and a bikini top made about 15 years ago using solid colored scraps from my senior collection with a pop of metallic orange from the circus. The shapes affixed to the red spandex base are organic and overlapping, evoking the idea of flames or fire. The mask base is neoprene.
The tactile sensation of interacting with these fabrics again after a long period of time in storage is surprising. Memories long dormant resurface – the frenzy of sewing my senior collection, the camaraderie of the costume trailer, the boost of joy from seeing a costume I sewed in use during the show. In this artistic mask representation, I revisit learning to sew stretch fabrics and marveling at the possibilities; the frustration of catching my fingers on straight pins; the pride at bringing 2-dimensional shapes into a 3-dimensional structure. It was surprising to me how meditative I found the development of this mask, like visiting with an old friend. There is memory in the things we make, the techniques we use to do it, and revisiting these objects as aesthetic pieces or records of skill can show us how far we’ve come while serving as inspiration for future work.
This project is funded in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts. 
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