This was my 3rd artist book (the earlier ones were made of paper), and the 1st one in this series of corset books.

After the few books I made in paper, I wanted the stories that I was telling to become more 3-D, not just text on paper but wanting the stories to become part of the textile. By embroidering the text into the fabric, the text is tactile and the viewer could become more intimately involved with the stories being told, as they would have to interact with the book - by untying the corset strings in order to read the text.

Having to take the time to slow down to unlace all the ties, undo the buckles in order read all the text, is part of the contemplation and therapy of the process; echoing what women have been experiencing for a century of dressing and undressing.

The text from a variety of sources from behavioral manuals of the 19th and 20th centuries, which describe prescriptions of public and private deportment, as well as personal narratives of modern women who have lived with these physical constraints.

This pieces consists of the following pieces

1. Outside

Cover Corset, vintage corset

Height 15.5"

Width closed 15"/top, 20"/bottom,

Width opened: 36"/middle

2. Maternity corset

Height 12"

Width closed: 18"

Width opened: 36"

3. 1940's girdle

Height: 13"

Width closed: 15 1/2"

Width opened: 30"

4. Waist cincher

Height/central part: 11"

Height/side parts: 7 1/2"

Width closed: 11"

Width open: 24"

5. Antique wrap-around doll corset

Height 4 1/2"

Width closed: 4"

This piece was exhibited at:

Tamar Stone and Christine LoFaso: Women's Bodies of/as Work, Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art - Ursinus College, Collegeville, PA, 2008

Triennial 9 Form and Contents: Coporal Identity - Body Language: Museum of Arts and Design, NY, NY 2004 and Museum fur Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany, 2003

ADressing the Body, Fassbender Gallery, Chicago, Ill, 2000

Please see my website for more details:

http://web.mac.com/picturetown