PUTNEY-Brattleboro artist Ruth Shafer's soft sculpture show, "The Weight," will open at The Putney School on Friday, Jan. 10, and runs through March 1. There will be an opening reception at the Micheal S. Currier Center Gallery from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10.
"The Weight" features five fabric sculpture installations which explore the feminine body's place in the home, in art history, and in the ways the past becomes the future. By conflating the female form with furniture and furnishings, the exhibit "confronts the dualities of domesticity; safety versus confinement, decoration versus identity, opportunity versus obligation," write organizers in a news release.
SlipCover, the central piece of the show, features a female form seated in an armchair, both defined and concealed by an elaborate slipcover. It was featured in Fiber Art Now magazine's 8th annual Excellence in Fibers juried exhibition in 2023, and was further selected for the onsite exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles. SlipCover has since been shown at Haven in St. Johnsbury and Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield.
Other pieces include Girl's Dress, which shows an innocent prairie dress on a hanger, the skirt ballooning out like sandbags to represent the impending weight of womanhood. A series called Cushions features a variety of upholstered pillows with breasts, "a visual joke that is both obvious and unsettling," say organizers.
"This show came from a place of both anger and tenderness," Shafer writes, relating her observation that furniture and the female body have a lot in common. "Physically, there are arms, legs, a strong back, and comfortable cushions to lean back on. Culturally, they have a specific place of service in the home. I wanted to honor the intimacy and comfort of domesticity and caretaking that shapes our identities, while pushing the viewer to consider what forms of objectification they have always taken for granted."
Shafer uses recycled materials and humor to explore the power of domesticity and the body at home.
Her work has been shown in Vermont at the Southern Vermont Art Center in Manchester, Mad River Valley Arts in Waitsfield, and in California at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles. She is a teacher for the Art in the Neighborhood program and the Governor's Institute on the Arts.
The creation of this work was funded by a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council, awarded in 2021. Creation Grants are awarded to both established and emerging artists for time spent creating new work, to purchase materials, or to rent equipment or space for the process.
You can see more of Shafer's work on her website, ruthshafer.com, and on her Instagram, @rruthshafrr.
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.