Mixed Media Assemblage | 20 x 25 inches | Custom Framed
 
Handiwork is a narrative assemblage that contrasts what counted as “women’s work” during World War II and in its aftermath.
 
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.
 
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.