MADE at the Foundry

Earlier this year, I was asked to be an exhibitor at the “MADE at the Foundry” art show, which was being co-produced by The Foundry Art Centre in St Charles, MO and the MADE Makerspace where I spend a good deal of time using their industrial sewing machine.

It was incredibly flattering to be asked, and very hard to narrow down a bag to exhibit: after all, while they are handmade, and certainly take time and talent to make, I have a hard time thinking of my purses and wallets as ‘art’, exactly. They’re made to be used, not displayed! (I have a very similar mentality with everything I make, from knitted shawls to crocheted blankets to cross-stitched sachets. They are not “too pretty to be used”! Use them up! Wear them out! Don’t you dare leave hours of my hard work sitting in a drawer forever after! …*ahem.*)

I eventually settled on the shoulder bag which I thought could most qualify as ‘art’, in that it took the most painstaking time to create and it looked damn cool - and I named it “The Poison Kiss”:

The show went great - a ton of my fellow artists from MADE were also exhibited, and it was gratifying to see appreciation for handmade art and function. But earlier this week, I drove up to St Charles to retrieve the bag so that The Foundry can set up for their next show - and Poison Kiss is once again available in the shop.

One of a kind, and an art exhibition - how cool is that?