Accession Number: M.87.41.15bLabel 1: Barrow, 11/23/87
Label 2: 1d
This thin cotton textile measures approximately 29” by 86.” It has a black warp with a geometric diamond pattern woven into it with stripes of mint green, silver, and dark red weft. The long edges of the fabric panel are selvage. The short sides of the panel have a knotted black fringe.
Two snakes were removed from a can of peanut brittle. The damaged fabric was removed from the spring “snakes.” The red stripes were cut from the woven textile, and the resulting strips of green and silver stripes were sewn together to create two panels of fabric, each approximately 9” by 60.” These were then machine-sewn into tubes, and one end of each was machine-sewn shut. On that end, now the “head” of the snake, two circles cut from a red stripe were appliquéd to form the snake’s eyes. A tongue was also formed from the red stripe and attached to the head of the snake. The springs were slipped into the fabric tubes and the ends were hand-sewn shut. Finally, both snakes were placed in a can of peanut brittle.
The accession number has been embroidered to the body of each snake.
Thanks to WSJ I found your blog and your project. I love what you are doing. I am a docent at LACMA, and to be honest, there are many other objects there I would love to see you redesigning.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who works with Textiles all the time, I must say you are very talented and are recreating wonderful items.
It is known that the largest collection at LACMA is the textile dept. Every individual shoe is an item on it's own. It makes perfect sense to me that many of these pieces need to be deaccessioned. Let's be honest, you bought these items through a museum, but many of them can be bought elsewhere.
I hope you get an exhibit somewhere. LACMA itself would be nice, but I wouldn't count on that.