Note Type
ExhibitedNote
Fashioning FELT, Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt Ntl Design Museum, NYC;
Palace Yurt DeConstructed- The Evergreen State College Gallery;
The Sculpted Fiber, Sonoma County Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CANote
Palace Yurt was designed and created as the immersive centerpiece of
Cooper-Hewitt’s Fashioning Felt exhibition, with the goal of paying homage to
the yurt as a historic and contemporary dwelling. It demonstrates the versatility
of felt as an ancient textile that connects us to Indigenous nomads and our
natural history, and it also shows felt as a functional and beautiful fabric and a
contemporary art form. It was inspired by my travels to Central Asia and
Mongolia to research the origins of handmade felt in the Motherland of Felt. I
created 57 traditional and avant-garde felt pieces and a metal framework, using
specifications from the original architectural drawing of the Carnegie Mansion,
where it was hung. I suspended it from this framework, mirroring the
conservatory’s existing cast-iron/leaded-glass ceiling.Note Type
Installation NoteNote
Although this piece was initially created as a site-specific installation, I
designed it to have a life beyond this exhibition. It is consistent with the spirit of
a true Palace Yurt in many ways, including being lightweight, portable, and
easily installed with simple connections. It has been shown both deconstructed
(individual pieces seen as separate works of textile art) and fully constructed
and suspended in a museum or gallery. Height is variable, as panels can be
rolled to fit the gallery height. The Order of Operations page is a spreadsheet
detailing the time and process required for installation.
