It's a Wrap!

I'm enamored by the thought of words wrapped around a body-telling the story that often never gets told.  So building on my last 3-D artwork of numbers and frames within frames,  I decided to create a
3-D effect of words on a miniature dress model stand.

The work measures 7" x 9"  on a board covered with material from Germany.  The mannequin seen is from a photograph I took and then printed on heavy duty water color paper. I cut through the outline of the figure to wrap  a strip of tracing paper around it,  covered with words that I've written.  Lettered ribbon boarders the edges, with a piece of an old wooden folding ruler along the bottom edge.  X stamps in black ink have also been added down each side. Attached is an old photograph I recently purchased at a cute antique store on 17th Street in NYC called Pippin.

The photograph below was taken by Rockwood Photographer, 17 Union Square West in NY-most probably  in the late 1880s. The photographer, George Rockwood (1832-1911) opened his studio in 1857 with his brother Elihu in NYC,  first at 839 Broadway.  Rockwood has been credited with introducing the carte-de visite format of photography to the United States from France, and claimed the first card photograph made in this country of Baron Rothschild taken at his gallery around 1859. Rockwell competed with many well known photographers of his time, such as Mathew Brady. He was a member of the elite photographic societies during the 1870s and 1880s. (I added the charm to the necklace)

Here is a picture of his studio plate he used on the back of his photographs.

In most situations, I  think it's better to express yourself rather than holding back your thoughts, no matter the risk involved, and no matter how difficult it may be.  For some,  it's easiest to do this through the spoken word, and for others, it may be easiest to write down their thoughts - whether in a letter,  through email, perhaps even in a blog post, with a photo or with music.  Regardless of the venue, it's  most important  to express them - perhaps even through one's art.