The Gown: Affinity

62 × 59 × 81 in

On it’s most basic level, The Gown:Affinity is a 3D printed copy of the wedding gown worn by my mother, her two sisters and myself. It’s substrate is made up of 260 LEGO-like blocks of cornstarch based plastic that has been completely covered in vintage Czech glass seed beads, Swarovski crystals, bottoms, tokens, photographs, chain and vintage cabochons. All of the ornamentation has been glued directly onto the substrate. The entire project took me about a year to complete.

I’d had the idea of creating a beaded gown for a while, but since I imagined it would be a huge project, I kept putting it off until my mother died in 2016 and I realized that the wedding gown in my attic would be perfect to use, not only as a tribute to my mother, but also as a meditation on marriage, family, life and death.

The Gown: Affinity had been featured at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the Montclair Art Museum in Montclair, NJ, the Pen&Brush Gallery in NYC, and SOFA Chicago and was the category winner for sculptural works from Excellence in Fibers IV.