Mielle Riggie, Patience, 2010. Kiln Formed Glass. H 14, D 13 in.
What is it about the dress? Is it its curves or how it falls on the body, the material used, or perhaps the personality underneath? What is it about the form that makes the dress both elusive and captivating? Perhaps that’s why artists such as Karen LaMonte, who creates life-size cast-glass dresses, have achieved such wide acclaim.
On March 3, at the Winston Wachter Fine Art in Seattle, Washington, a group show tackles the power of the form in an exhibition entitled “Dress Envy” by exploring the dress depicted in various materials, including glass.
While artists James Allen, Georges Daumbier, Victoria Ellison, Jessica Craig-Martin, and Margeaux Walter will all be included, perhaps one of the most striking expressions of the dress comes from Mielle Riggie, who is exhibiting three glass pieces in a series entitled “Homecoming.”
Her dresses fold over, hang, and wrap around. At times they hang delicately from the feminine form, and other times dramatically constrain it. They either mask or reveal detailed aspects about the body, calling forth themes of femininity, maternity, and sexuality. Through the medium of glass sculpture, the dress is reborn.
When photographed, dresses can only go so far, limited by the two-dimensional viewing experience. A glass sculpture of a dress transforms it from a mere collection of fabric into a container, a vessel where the absence of a human body is tangibly sensed. The folds, the contours, the seemingly effortless flow of material, all hold motionless in opaque glass.
Riggie told the Hot Sheet her reasoning for working in this medium: “I work with glass because it is very strong but simultaneously imparts a sense of fragility and light,” she says in her artist’s statement. “These seemingly competing forces make glass captivating and also reflect the tensions of daily life.”
One cannot help but compare the work of Riggie to that of Karen Lamonte. While they both sculpt dresses out of glass, the differences are striking. Lamonte’s cast-glass work emphasizes the details of the body, evoking a certain sensuality. Riggie, in her pate de verre forms, doesn’t necessarily call that her focus.
“It’s hard to separate yourself from femininity if you’re working with dresses,” she said. “There’s always going to be that presence.” Her pieces certainly do depict the feminine form, but one can tell that there’s more going on.
Mielle Riggie, Dreamer, 2010. Kiln-cast glass. H 16, D 11 in.
Dreamer, one of the pieces in the exhibit, exudes this sense of “fragility.” Unlike other dress sculptures, Dreamer is backless. As it begins to wrap around from the front, the dress stops, and instead rushes down to its base, a rocking chair that gives the piece subtle movement.
The rocking chair base embodies an aspect of much of Riggie’s work that frequently explores the delicate balance of things. “I’ve realized that my rural upbringing, surrounded by natural support systems, have greatly influenced me,” she continued. “I like to think about the fine balance and tension of those support systems, and include them in my work.”
Riggie packs glass granules into a mold before it is fired. The end product of this pate de verre process results in two different surfaces: a shiny, glossy surface on the side of the heat (the outside of the dress), and a matte finish on the underside. The finished product, then, is not completely see-through, nor is it completely blocked. Like the imagined form underneath, the dress is mysterious, shy, and perhaps even hiding something.
—Paul Travisano
IF YOU GO: Group Exhibition “Dress Envy” March 3, 2010, 6 PM – 8 PM Winston Wachter Fine Art
203 Dexter Avenue North
Seattle, WA 09109
Tel: 206 652 5855