Subversively Embroidered Money and Penny Sculptures Question Historical Narratives




Art

#coins
#embroidery
#metal
#money
#politics
#sculpture
#social commentary

March 18, 2021

Grace Ebert

From Riot Funds. All footage © Stacey Lee Webber, shared with permission

All by way of 2020, Stacey Lee Webber developed Insurrection Bills, a revisionary assortment of United States foreign exchange overlaid with subversive stitches: flames envelop monuments, a wall is left unfinished, and an eclectic array of face masks disguise Abraham Lincoln’s portrait. Contrasting the muted tones of the paper, the colorful embroideries stand in stark distinction and as amended narratives to those depicted on the numerous denominations. “The sequence references feelings of anger, turmoil, and frustration by way of the tense political native climate whereas recontextualizing and questioning the beloved iconography we see on our money,” she tells Colossal.

At current working from her studio and residence in Philadelphia’s Globe Dye Works, Webber is formally educated in metalsmithing—she has an MFA from the Faculty of Wisconsin, the place she initially began using foreign exchange because the premise of her initiatives—and sees the two mediums as an ongoing dialog. Embroidery “permits me to work in a quieter setting exterior of my metallic retailer showing as a form of ying to the yang, delicate and exhausting, masculine and feminine,” she says.

Plenty of Webber’s sculptures comprise soldering money, along with the copper penny works that make up The Craftsmen Sequence and question the value of blue-collar labor inside the U.S. Comprised of gap, life-sized devices, the gathering visualizes “inserting infinite portions of labor proper right into a single cent,” the artist says.

Webber has a lot of exhibitions this yr, along with at TW Fine Art Palm Beach Outpost in April, Philadelphia’s Bertrand Productions in October, and Art on Paper Fair in New York Metropolis this November. For individuals who can’t see the currency-based initiatives in particular person, head to Instagram, the place the artist shares a much bigger assortment of her works and glimpses into her studio.

 

“Masked Abes,” from Riot Funds

From Riot Funds

Factor of “Masked Abes,” from Riot Funds

A ladder from The Craftsmen Sequence, soldered pennies

From Riot Funds

Jewelry made out of money

#coins
#embroidery
#metal
#money
#politics
#sculpture
#social commentary

 

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