Part of the series From War to Peace, it features a wartime recruiting poster of women performing a wide range of jobs and handling industrial tools with authority. In a palette of golds and greens, those tools are set against delicate artistic implements more commonly associated with domesticity — underscoring both the breadth of skills women demonstrated in service and how swiftly those abilities were sidelined when peace returned.

Detailed and research-driven, Handiwork brings together women-in-WWII history and home-front narratives in a contemporary assemblage.

Materials: Green garnet, calcite, Murano glass, freshwater pearls, magnetic necklace clasps, dollhouse miniatures, art board, paper, gimp, fabric, wood, a public-domain WWII recruiting poster from the National Archives

Framing: Archival museum glass in a deep black custom frame by Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.

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From War to Peace (Series)

A collection of miniature, historically grounded narratives tracing a cultural shift that still resonates today. During World War II, women stepped into expanded roles — cryptography, logistics, parachute rigging, radio repair, and more — only to be steered back toward narrowly defined domestic expectations as the war ended.

Drawing on period posters, archival photographs, and symbolic materials, each work juxtaposes wartime competence and leadership with postwar ideals of home and femininity. Intimate and research-driven, the series rewards careful viewing, restores these contributions to the historical record, and reasserts these women as clear role models for later generations.

Steeped in World War II women’s history, the series highlights the roles of both civilian and military women on the home front and beyond.