Wedding dresses & Flamework

I don't believe in limits for art: what art can be, what it is, what is and isn't art... so here you may not be surprised that I sew on a regular basis and recently finished a hand painted wedding dress of dupioni silk.
Made from inspiration driven by the Wadada Movement, by African and Rasta roots, the modern bride, and use beyond a wedding setting, I created a piece for now Christine Harrell of Longmont, CO. Made from Dupioni silk and satin, embellished with hand-painted Ethiopian-inspired green/gold/red design down the seams of the dress, embroidered lines and ankh on the top, and embroidered lines on the golden veil.  In addition, I created a similar one piece dress for her daughter, Sekara. Same material, same Ethiopian design, yet a bit different and created for a young lady. Enjoy.

Christine Harrell's Wedding Dress and Daughter Sekara's Ceremony Dress J. Stoker 2011
Dupioni silk, satin, acrylic paint

Yesterday, my amazing husband set up a very early birthday present. For years I have wanted to learn how to work with glass. I received a taste of this experience. Thanks to Glasscraft in Golden, CO.
I learned a quick 4 hour introduction to hard glass and already my mind is swimming with the things I feel I can make with just the few techniques I learned.

I have to say, working with a new medium is liberating and I hope I can learn to do more. My thoughts have been filled with building a studio in my backyard to do flamework.

2 boro white leaves, 1 color leaf, 1 color and boro white tear drop pendent

Painting hasn't gone to the wayside by any means, I am taking his time to put aside the things I have learned in my undergrad and create my own thoughts, break my own rules and views as to how things must go.

Where my shadow laid...

...Before, I realize is far from where my shadow traces the ground now. The number of things that have changed have lost the fuel to describe themselves. My current locale seems unknown, but I know where it came from...

Compositionally I am concerned with the emotions of line, specifically diagonals. Diagonals: the emotions, relations, dynamism, stability and instability of line and therefore composition. This is important to the stationary aspects of a still figure in that it helps move the eye and keep the painting alive.

I work with figures, and more specifically women, because I can relate as a woman. I am concerned with how women portray themselves. Often there is talk within the art world, and more so since the rise in feminism which has sparked the revision of (art) history, about the "male-gaze"... How women are portrayed is part of the "male-gaze." Well, maybe these women want to portray themselves in this way. Because they think they are beautiful. That's my point.

Flipping perspective. Further dynamism is given through perspective. My figures are foreshortened, the perspective is exaggerated. One will notice that there is usually an object large in the foreground, this object would be better perceived in detail but to flip perspective I make the color shapes pixilated. The objects in the furthest back are usually more detailed. Variations of this process are used to flip perspective. Just like the flip in perspective of the male-gaze.

My paint inspires me. I paint the figure because mankind has lost its connection to the rest of life and the human form is all we can relate and communicate to/ with. When I get a figure interesting enough, the inspiration takes wind; but the paint, and what it can do, and what I do with it, is the inspiration.

I use personal, historical, and theoretical references in thought to keep my paintings alive. I use many of my sources from the woman-life that I have lived. The life I have lived growing up with a quad-generation of women in my family. From these women I learned the tools to apply to my life. Independence. "Don't have anything done for you that you can't do yourself." Strength in the end. I apply these tools, putting my whole life into my painting, my paint, my relationship. The piece lives through me. To me Art is living.

I find perfection in imperfection and prefer to work out of the box. One will find most of my work is framed by this imperfection in that the actual frame has paint on it, therefore becoming part of the process, becoming part of the painting, it is the painting. It is my relationship. Perfection in imperfection. What the viewer finds imperfect reflects her or his misunderstanding of the ‘ability to be perfect,’ forcing imperfection to oust out the existence of perfection, permeating into more imperfection until there is a balance, resulting in a ‘perfect balance’ with what the viewer sees....