didactic decorative objects

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A Collection of Didactic Decorative Objects by Annie Coggan

description

embroidered furniture portfolio

Transcript of didactic decorative objects

Page 1: didactic decorative objects

A Collection of Didactic Decorative Objectsby Annie Coggan

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Th e maps on the upholstery illustrate the military movements of General Ulysses S. Grant during the MississippiCampaigns. Th is project was supported through an Artist Incentive Grantprovided by the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. Th e furniture resides in the Grant collection reading room at Mississippi State University.

Grant’s Military Movements Loveseat-2009Embroidered linen upholstered chair

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Th e maps on the upholstery illustrate the military movements of General Ulysses S. Grant during the Mississippi Campaign’s. Th is project has been supported through an Artist Incentive Grant provided by the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. Th e furniture resides in the Grant collection reading room at Mississippi State University.

Vicksburg Chair-2009Embroidered linen upholstered chair

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Th is chair maps William Faulkner’s beloved homestead Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi. Th e map illus-trates the original garden plan and the front walk way of coleus plants that line the path.

Faulkner’s Homestead chair-2008Embroidered linen on upholstered chair

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A Loveseat that maps Marie Antoinette’s gardens at Le Petit Trianon.

Marie Antoinette’s Garden seat-2008Embroidered linen on upholstered chairExhibited at the Ole Miss Motel-2010

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A chair that pays homage to Eudora Welty mother’s Jackson Mississippi fl ower garden. Th e seat is an em-broidered plan of the garden and the remainder of the chair is an ex-pression of the garden in full force.

Mrs. Welty’s garden chair-2009Embroidered linen on upholstered chair

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Th e Freedom Chair was an endeavor initiated by the Mis-sissippi Historic Trust. I was asked to develop a piece of work that illustrated the history and plight of the Fielder and Brooks Drug Store in Meridian Mississippi. Th is place is an endangered structure and its place in history is cru-cial to the understanding of the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. Th e building was the headquarters for COFO and the last known sighting of slain activists Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. Th e chair is covered in lightweight cotton indicative of the summer dress covers used in southern homes prior to the advent of air condi-tioning. Th e embroidery work is a series of stitching of the buildings facades, quotations from civil rights leaders and statistics regarding the voting activities of African Ameri-cans in Mississippi in the 50’s and 60’s.

Freedom Chair-2011Embroidery on cotton linenIn the collection of Erica Speed, Jackson, MS

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Th e fi rst map shows Amelie Gautreau ancestral home in False River Lousiana, the map on the skirt is her birthplace on Toulouse Street in New Orleans. Th e central map is the route taken by John Singer Sargent to l’Ecole de Beaux Arts to hang the portrait of Amelie in the 1883 . And the fi nal map is the route from Amelie residence to Sargent’s studio where she pleaded with him to take the infamous painting Madame X, down from the Salon walls.

Madame X’s skirt-2010Embroidery on cotton chintzExhibited at the Ole Miss Motel Show-2010

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In 1903, the famous widow of Ulysses S. Grant and the famous widow of Jeff erson Davis found themselves in a West Point New York resort. Julia was the fi rst to knock on the other’s door-announcing “I am Mrs. Grant” with Varina responding, “I am very glad to meet you”. And then they had Tea.

Widow Chairs-2010Black chintz on found chairs

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Th is chair charts the movements of Varina Davis during the Civil War. Mrs. Davis left her Natchez home for Montgomery, the confederate capital at the start of the war. For the next 4 years Davis led a nomadic life, especially during her fl ight from Rich-mond. Davis never had a permanent home of her own until aft er Jeff erson Davis’ died, although she was sometimes considered the matriarch of the southern cause.

Varina’s Flight-2010Embroidered linen on upholstered chairIn the collection of Greg Best, Atlanta, Georgia

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Th e Homage Series was an expression of a series of readings of southern women: Varina Davis, Julia Grant, their daughters Nell and Winnie. Th e summer covers were reconstructed and sewn from old textile lab coats. Th e images were placed on the cotton by ink jet printer. Small bits of em-broidery and applique is scattered about the chair covers depending on the hero-ines temperament.

Homage chairs-2010Ink jet printing on up-cycled garments.

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Th e History of Her Rooms

I set about the task of how a stitch becomes a room and the is-sues of scale and all associated connotations. I read and studied the work of historian Laurel Th atcher Ulrich; her book Th e Good Wives in particular. I was fascinated by the idea that an 18th century woman on a Maine homestead could occupy a world of repetitive arduous tasks as well as make vibrant leaps in her imagination via needlework. Th e rooms (the small mod-els in the exhibition) are embroidered embodiments of this idea where some are fl ights of fl owers and landscape and others are endless lists of tasks and obligations. Th e chair is a fi nal homage to this woman’s life with vibrant mapping of fl owers and fl ora and a sitting room within a chair.

A Chair for her Interior LifeApplique and embroidered linen on upholstered chair-2012Exhibited at the Artist in Residence show-2nd edition-Textile Arts Center-2012