Makeshift Mendings

Abstract

The following is a written thesis of the concepts and visual aspects of Whitney Mahoney's MFA thesis exhibition, installed at the University of Kansas Art and Design Gallery from February 17-22, 2013. The exhibition, Makeshift Mendings, is a suspended fabric barrier constructed using a variety of hand-stitched white cotton fabrics. Stitches were pulled and manipulated to create a smocked rippling texture. The work spanned the length of the gallery and was suspended from the gridded gallery ceiling using clothesline and pulleys. The clothesline ends were attached to the wall using cleats and weighted down to the floor using a combination of handmade sandbags and worn bricks.