Jeanne Bieri | Cross Your Heart

Silk from Men’s Ties, Woolen Coats, Free Press Paper Delivery Bags, Army Suture Cotton, Velvet Upholstery, Quilt Pieces.

Photos by: Laura Earle (above) and Rich Earle

I love hand stitching, it gives me the opportunity to meditate, sink deep into myself, and fix the used materials I’ve collected. In this case, I had a variety of used brown and beige materials that really needed to be mended, all were frayed from use.  As I mended, the added dimension of thread and stitching made things stronger. It felt so good to the hand.

In addition to the materials I’ve collected I’ve saved animal images, some from narrative quilts, some of my own drawings, and I wanted to begin to incorporate image into my larger works, I needed to explore the way I could make the two directions work together.

And of course, the word “Fetish” is loaded with meaning, I had an old leather (black) coat that called to me to be included in this project. I began by sewing small patches with the animal images sewn in. The completed patches piled up, very satisfying to my compulsive nature. How could I manage to sew things together that would solve the big question, at hand, that is, to make a garment and maintain a kind of composition large enough to assemble into an outfit that addressed the notion of The FET!SH Project.

Cross Your Heart

I just kept sewing, That’s how my intuitive nature works. Seldom do I begin with a plan, It’s frustrating, but the frustration nags me into solutions. All the while I am thinking this project has to be about marketing and how women are marketed to. We ladies know this, women are commodities, their retail dollar funnels to the image that promises the most, the skinny models, the opportunity to be gorgeous, to be perfect. Buy, buy, buy. I keep thinking of the gender distinctions of toddler clothing, the little animal images are sewn in, Yes, I realize gender distinctions begin early, girls get the cute, boys, the tough. Gender messaging is early indoctrinating. Does it make a difference? How could it not? patterns are encoded early.

In fact, folks respond to the cute little girl named Lilly with the lily pad with the Froggie on her dress, does this work its way into later years, it must, you get attention for certain behaviors, and they become embedded. Girls often get the cute, the sweet, the pixie, the princess. Eventually, this good girl messaging percolates down deep. The message is clear, if you want attention, practice the behaviors that got your attention in the first place. Initially, it’s cute, later, it’s sexy.