"I'll Just Throw
a Sweater On"
2019
These sweaters are part of my final project in textiles at RISD. The concept is comfort so much so that its not comfort anymore.
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The first layer is the orange sweater and it covers as much skin as possible. It's tight everywhere, including the neck, so much so I added buttons on the back to make it as tight as possible. Part of the stripes are made from scratchy mo-hair and wool.
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In the showing of these I also had my model wear a giant knit blanket I made that was incredibly warm, heavy, and scratchy.
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The end result wearing it is lots of sweat and fatigue. Also a few models saying "hey get me out of this right now as fuck"
The concept came from reflecting on a time when I had no relationship with discomfort.
Continually avoiding it at all costs. The things I found comfort in slowly became uncomfortable. A large part of what became uncomfortable was my familial home. The colors of this piece are taken from the color scheme of different rooms in the house.
The top layer of this piece is faux cable knit open front sweater. It has buttons but no button holes, It has strings on the inside that catch you as you try to put it on, the most obvious being the fake cable knit. I knit it with heavy cotton into a terrycloth feeling. The sleeves are longer than the average arm and the whole thing weighs probably 5 lbs.
I loved making theses pieces, all knit on a single bed knitting machine and took so long I don't even remember. Lots of all nighters thats for sure.
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This is by far my most serious art piece, I still think it's got a sliver of tragic comedy to it.
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Thanks for looking!