Identity of Industry
Unknown Samoan Artist
Siapo (Tapa cloth) Early 20th century dye, bark, resin UMFA2006.3.4
About the art!Tapa is a cloth made by nearly every culture in the Pacific, most commonly in Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. Tapa cloth is made from pieces of mulberry bark that have been stripped, beaten, and pasted together to form large sheets of cloth. It is decorated with natural paints and vegetable dyes and most often used for everyday needs like room dividers and clothing, but also for ceremonies. The patterns and designs are specific to each individual culture, but are often representations of the natural world.
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Jacqui Biggs Larsen
Cottage Industry (1997) mixed media 48″ x 66″ SMA1998.013 Notes about the artwork! The juxtaposition of the words “Cottage” and “Industry” in the title convey both a cozy rural scene and a bustling urban factory. This work explores the pressures and expectations the artist faced as a young girl in a rural community and the connection of childlike innocence with the expectations of society. The composition of the artwork uses a variety of found objects: a faded antique quilt, doll clothes from a Shirley Temple doll, numbered tickets along the sides, the repetition of images, and joined rulers. All of these items challenge the notion of producing copies, especially copies of people.
Extension: Using interesting objects from around the school or brought from home, create a collage. Think about the symbolism or meaning of each object. |