Mad Women: Jean Drops Out and Joins A Cult

Mad Women: Jean Drops Out and Joins A Cult (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (Esquire, Dec. 1939;
 McCall's Pattern Book, spring 1946);  recycled Turner Classic Movies
trading card ("Casablanca") & Monet exhibition catalog illustration;
ink; watercolor. 7.5" x 9.5" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $175.

I was so excited to - finally - use something from the December 1939 issue of Esquire, which my friend Marsie Newbold gave to me a few years back. It's the background image of the lithe women with a horse and came from an illustrated feature titled "If Women Rules the World and Men and Horses Were Slaves." Yeah, real male fantasy stuff that I couldn't resist turning into female fantasy stuff.

Adding to the romantic air: a quote from "Casablanca" from a set of classic movie trading cards that came in the mail back in my newspaper features editor days. At that time, I was saving promotional card decks. Well, let's be honest, I was also saving tons of other paper!

In any case, what was funniest to me about the quote is that my daughter recognized it as being from "Casablanca" almost immediately. Guess we raised her right.

Mad Women: The Gloves Were Off

© Mad Women: The Gloves Were Off (2012)

mixed-media collage: vintage illustrations (McCall's Pattern Book, March 1946;

Butterick Pattern Book, Fall 1953; Picture Sourcebook, Dover, 1974), 

vintage Deutsche Bank calendar (1958), recycled ads and flash card, ink.

 5.75" x 9.25" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass.
Price: $150. 

This came about in a more random way than many of my collages. The woman was cut-out to use with a 1950s wallpaper sample background whose pattern I found to be too busy. So, the hunt began for a better background. It took a lot of rummaging before landing on the calendar, which was snapped up at a used book sale for the graphics above the calendar (beautifully printed, stained-glass images from German churches). It wasn't until I looked at it again last week that I realized the year was 1958 - perfect for "Mad Women."

The gloves and "hot" are from advertisements received in the mail. At first, I thought I'd use black & white gloves, but these have more punch. The screw/bolt digs into a block from a flash card set that was a last-minute addition, because I was determined to have her leaning on that screw even though it wasn't long enough.

Originally, she was holding the apron, too - not the knives, scissors, etc. - but when I spotted them, I decided to have her wear the apron instead. Finally, she was tilted a bit to really give the appearance of leaning but also to add a bit of a diagonal to the vertical composition.

Thanks!

A quick note of thanks to everyone who attended Friday night's The Art of Food opening at The Carnegie. It was a crowded, over-the-top spectacle with live performances, "living dolls" modeling fantastic, food-themed dresses created by Cincinnati artist Pam Kravetz and baker/artist The Bonbonerie, and dozens of area chefs dishing out amazing food. Did I bring a camera? No. Sigh. Lesson learned.

If you want to see my work, now's the time. When I left the exhibit, 12 of the 16 collages had sold. So, once the show ends, they'll disappear into the collections of the purchasers. It was exciting to watch people look at the collages and to hear them laugh. I did a lot of work on the labels to explain where the papers came from, which a few people commented on. As you know, the paper itself is important to me, as is letting people know that it is the original paper - not photocopies.

© Mad Women: Joan - Tired of the Glad-Handing, Good Ole' Boy Network -
 Planned A Corporate Takeover (2012)
mixed-media collage: vintage cover illustration (The Delineator, Dec. 1934),
metal button, price tag and foreign currency; recycled parking lot ticket,
ledger paper, and Champion Paper sample; ink; watercolor.
7.5" x 9.5 on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass.
 Price: $175. (SOLD)

Now, on to Expecting To Fly, which opens 6-9 p.m. Friday at the 5th Street Gallery. I've created new Mad Women, Grand Tour and Out on A Limb collages that all speak to the idea of freedom and empowerment in one way or another.

Mad Women: Iron-Willed

These 1950s-era women appear so confident, determined and modern (for the time) that I couldn't resist pairing them with images of antique and vintage irons. The working title was "Unlike their grandmothers and mothers, Sue and Joan never ironed." But I wanted to imbue them with more power than that.

Of course, the irony is that every item of clothing required ironing in the 1950s - or at least seemed to - and a woman dare not step out in a wrinkled ensemble - or allow her children to. I spent enough time standing at the ironing board to know how lucky I am not to have to do that these days. 5"x5" on archival mat board. [SOLD]

Mad Women: There Was No More Penny PinchingNow That Helen Was The Primary Breadwinner

I'm on another Mad Women tear. Something about the coming holidays inspired me to add more collages to the series, which tweaks 1950s stereotypes about women. Note the festive red-and-green color scheme supplied by the vintage trading stamps and recycled coin wrapper. The green background behind the couple was in the original illustration from an ad in Ladies Home Journal and blended so well with the stamps that I decided to keep it. 4.75" x 4.75" on archival mat board. (SOLD)

Mad Women on a smaller scale

Between larger collages, I've been working on the gift tag collages for a few retail shops in town (more on that when they are actually in the shops). As I was scanning the finished tags into the computer, I noticed that the '40s/'50s fashion tags have taken on the same "don't give me any X#$+" attitude as the Mad Women series. I seem incapable of creating a straight-up fashion tag!

Mad Women: It Was the '60s, and the World Was At Their Feet

This was one of the fastest collages made last week. I found the Simplicity pattern in a junk store in Owenton, Ky., on a trip to Versailles the weekend before last - and knew right away how it would be used. After tinkering with background maps, I found this one from the 1944 "Atlas of Global Geography" (Global Press Corp.). I intended to use the map in "Top o' the World Ma" - the collage at the top of the rail on the right side of this page - but didn't like the yellow and set it aside. It works perfectly here, as do the time zone clocks from an illustration in an issue of The Chatterbox.

Hmm. Now that I think about it, while the idea came fast, the cutting and gluing didn't. It took quite a while to cut out those figures and to get every foot, leg, etc. glued down. 5.5" x 8.5" on archival mat board. Matted to fit a standard 12" x 9" frame. $45 + $5 shipping & handling [SOLD]

Mad Women: In Marilyn's World, Big Was Better. Period.

I had been waiting for an op to use this vintage Butterick sewing pattern illustration and it came when I found more of the Tiffany jewelry illustrations on vellum that I had pulled from an old catalog. Those baubles say it all - and then some. 5.5" x 8.5" on acid-free watercolor paper, with ink and pencil. Matted to fit a standard 9"x12" frame. $55, plus $5 shipping & handling.

Mad Women: Margie Considers Her Options

When I spotted the ad for revolvers in an early 20th century woman's magazine I was taken aback by its placement in the magazine and by its strident message that not only should "ladies learn to shoot" but that their daughters should, too. I knew I had to use it in a piece and once the Mad Women series began developing, well, it was a natural. What I like best about "Margie" is how happy she looks as she mulls over ways to stick it to the man rather than ways to stick savings stamps into books. 6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper. [SOLD]

Whatever the Occasion, Susie and Marie Had Each Other's Back

Something clicked when I found the 1953 sewing pattern illustration at the bottom and the dual-personality woman at the top (the top section of the cover of a 1950s-era "Nesco Modern Way of Electric Cooking" booklet).  But it wasn't until I saw the wording in a woman's farm journal ad for baby chicks that the piece came together. 3.75" x 5.75" on archival mat board.

Art Foundations: 101

The minute I spotted this editorial feature in the November 1939 Ladies' Home Journal, I knew I'd pair it with an engineering engraving from a 19th century book nabbed at a library sale. Little did I know, though, it would be the perfect engraving; turn it on its side, and it looks like a plan for any one one of these bras. Yet once the two pieces came together, inspiration fled.

So, they sat on a work table for about two weeks. Then, the idea to paint the engraving pink came along and the rest went quickly from the addition of the Sears & Roebuck measuring tape (for measuring at home to mail order) to the image of the woman, er, sculpture. Thin paper washers were placed on strategic spots but they seemed forced and were replaced by inked circles that almost appear part of the originals.  9.5" x 7.5" on archival mat board.

Mad Women: Yvette Knew Exactly What She Wanted

Yvette is an alter ego for Mad Men's Don Draper. Minus the angst, that is. The patterns are Butterick and McCalls from the 1940s and '50s, and the jewels are - who else? - Tiffany's. The illustration was one of many scattered through a catalog from about five years ago and is on vellum, so there's some transparency as well as a wonderful softness to the lines. I figured I'd use them one way or another, and saved all the pages.

It's difficult to see onscreen, but those are Swarovski crystals on her hat and dress - as well as one as a tie pin for the guy in the suit. Trust me, they almost have that Tiffany-cut gleam. 5.25" x 9" on archival mat board. Framed with conservation glass. Price: $100. (SOLD)

Mad Women: Betty was fed up

I've started a series titled Mad Women that's a departure from my usual Victorian-centric work. It was spurred by three great finds: 1940s & '50s sewing catalogs; 1940s women's magazines; and Top Value trading stamp books. My East Coast family was strictly S&H green stamps, so these were new to me.

Happily, I came across some S&H books, too, and acquired more via my thrifty friend Betsa Marsh. She told me she relied on them to acquire appliances and other goods in the early days of her marriage. She kept the ones she hadn't traded in after they were discontinued hoping they'd make a comeback. (Given the economy, it's surprising they haven't.)

The "No" is a piece of a clever "do not disturb" sign that I knew I'd walk off with the moment I saw it on the hotel room door.  6.5" x 4.5" on acid-free watercolor paper (SOLD)