Donna Rosenthal
Artist Statement
I observe the effects of traditional and societal influences on the lives of women. As I explore, gather and recount family stories and rituals. I use text, repetition, and the cultural symbolism of clothing to expose the struggles between the internal and external self. The manner in which I compose my work gives clues to age-old personal and collective realities, the longings, presumptions, and predicaments of women. Each element of the work, materials, images, content and process, is carefully planned to create new pathways from history and the passage of time to the present. By giving testament to the past, I acknowledge and honor the strong bond of commonality that exists between generations of women.
I choose to work with traditional craft making materials that embody and evoke the past, such as vintage papers, books, magazines, aprons, linens, lace, buttons, handkerchiefs and dress patterns. These are deconstructed and then transformed and embellished using sewing, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, beading and gluing. Text is almost always used to create cohesiveness between content and materials. The words can be provocative, humorous, ironic, and often unsettling.