Thread for Filth @likesgarbageisgarbage-blog - Tumblr Blog

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Oh here’s some shots from the display, pre-opening. If you want to see pictures of the art in action, check out my website: rachelbenderart.com

#thread for filth #senior thesis

I wanted to post some pictures from my thesis show opening, but tumblr keeps telling me they’re too big and I’m way too lazy to go in and re size them each, so here’s a link to my beautiful glorious website, where all of my big ass pictures were able to actually be posted :)

#art #myart #my website #thread for filth #senior thesis #dolls #RuPaul's Drag Race #drag dolls

Friday April 15, 6-8pm Ohio University Gallery Seigfred Hall 5th floor as part of Close Praxis

rachelbender

In 20 days, Thread for Filth will be on display in the Ohio University Seigfred gallery as part of the show Close Praxis.

I feel so lucky to get to show my work with some of my best friends who are all also amazing artists.

Specifically, the artists Samantha Slone and Johnna Miska.

Sam paints so beautifully, she almost makes garbage look edible. You can find her work at www.samsloneart.com

Johnna Miska is a felt painter. She combines unique materials with a painterly sensibility and a masterful use of color. You can find her work at johnnamiska.com

I’M GOING TO RUPAUL’S DRAG CON!!

I am interested in exploring issues related to sexuality and gender in my artistic practice. My current work explores gender, how we teach children about gender, and the prejudices we all have within us relating to gender and what most of western society considers to be correct or ideal on those topics. I make drag queen felt dolls. They vary in size but are generally about twelve inches tall. They're based on real drag queens who have participated in the show Rupaul's Drag Race. If you're unfamiliar with the show, it's a combination of Project Runway, America's Next Top Model, and American Idol where drag queens compete to be crowned America's next drag super star. After I finished my first doll, I did what any millennial would do, and I posted a picture of it on the internet. Almost immediately it received a comment from someone asking about me making one for her. So I made her one, and she sent me a picture of her nine year old niece, who she requested the doll for, holding the doll and smiling. Coming from the background that I do (catholic) I was stunned that there exists a little girl who loves and is allowed to love drag queens. Well, it doesn't surprise me that a little girl loves performers who dress up in flashy outfits and dance around the stage like a diva. What surprised me was that the adults in her life accepted, supported, and encouraged this love. She had met this drag queen in person and her aunt just bought a drag queen doll for her. In contrast to this girl's experience, my mother is somewhat scandalized by my dolls. I showed my mom some of the positive reactions I was getting when I posted pictures of my dolls online and how some of the drag queens themselves would acknowledge what I was doing, and my mom's reaction was, "Mm. Your sewing is lovely but I just can't support what you're doing here." So I started asking questions about the contrasts between the delicate and domestic implications of sewing, the educational and safe aspects of children's toys, and the potentially scandalous and culturally deviant nature of drag. What happens when the ideas are combined? Does the approachable size of the doll make the drag aspect less off putting to people who would be offended, or does the fact that the doll is a drag queen upset people who would otherwise be interested in the design of the dolls? Does condensing the drag queens into a simple doll make them more palatable to people like my mom, or does diminishing their scale also diminish their power? Also, what about how consumable they are? They're art, but they're also products. There is something about them that sparks a desire to own them. In person people say, "That one is my favorite. Save that one for me I'm buying it after your show." and online there are comments like "OMG so cute where can I get one!?" This is obviously great for me. I love to see other people love my work. But why? Why do people want to own these? Is it their design, their materials? What makes you want to own a drag queen? Why did I have the urge to make these dolls in the first place?

I think it might be because drag queens are kind of scary. They're loud, they're flamboyant, they represent a complete deconstruction of the gendered expectations that I've been taught my whole life. They represent a huge departure from my comfort zone. The dolls might be my way to tame them. I shrink them and reduce them to these materials that I know very well and I am very comfortable with and then I put them on a shelf and say, look how pretty. Maybe I am my mom. As I continue working through this project I'm searching for ways to translate the desire to own the dolls into the desire to interact with and participate in a personal moment with the dolls. I want to create an environment that sets the stage for an experience with the dolls. Its a vulnerable position, the dolls being put in our hands for us to use and interact with on our terms, but what drag queen doesn’t enjoy her moment in the spotlight?

Abstract for my Student Expo Application:

My work is a collection of 50 felt dolls designed to resemble specific drag queens. They are displayed on shelves and accompanied by an interactive runway. A camera at the end of the runway sends a live feed to a projector which displays the interactions.

That sounds good right?

Getting serious about doll production... I need 50 by April !!!

Its been a tough first two weeks back. I had to move all of my stuff to my new studio space (which is great because now instead of being isolated in the dungeon, I’m upstairs with great supportive people! and a microwave!) and then my computer broke which was a huge set back. I think we might be able to get it up and running again but in the meantime I have a really old really slow little computer thing that...sometimes gets the job done. The struggle is real.

But I just finished four new dolls so that’s a big plus

#art #drag #drag queens #joslyn fox #RuPaul's Drag Race

The break was good. The break was necessary.

...but we’re back now :D

Making Of (the first?) Runway

#senior thesis #runway #my process #process video #adore delano #my address is hollywood

Finals were last week, which means that since it’s Saturday and I’m still alive I must have survived! I was fairly stressful, but it turns out if you don’t bother sleeping or eating you can get a lot of work done in a pretty short amount of time. So I ended up spending the night in the sad little room at the end of the dungeon hall way building this runway. I painted the runway board and the camera mount black and then covered them with a layer of glitter paint. I built the runway curtain out of ribbons, dowel rods, a foam brick, poster board, and hot glue. I also cut and sewed the black satin table cover. The go pro camera and short throw projector all came from the create space, our campus technology library. And yes, I was listening to Hedwig and the Angry Inch for awhile when I was painting :)

I got some good feedback in my final critiques, but there was one comment made that kind of shook me. Is this runway truly serving my project? To be honest, I don’t know. I’m gonna need to do some thinking about that. Maybe I’ll just take a break and stick to sewing dolls for the next few days.

#thesis #senior thesis #thread for filth #runway #technology

As a consumer of drag culture, I see the potential of using drag as a means of reeducation and assertion that falling on either end of the spectrum, or anywhere between the binaries, is okay. We ca…

Look, I’m on the Create_Space’s website for my research! Thanks for access to the camera and projector, guys!