Author: bsanders
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Caste Cul-de-sac
Screenprint; 12″x12″; 2021
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History is Left Beneath, Not Behind
Woodcut on repurposed fabric, with appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching; Approximately 12’x7′; 2017 Composed primarily from upcycled proofs from previous print projects, this piece shows my son Levee pulling up earth and exposing the fossil record along with the detritus that will be humanity’s lasting legacy on the planet.
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Background Noise Project
Four laser-engraved linocut blocks—of landfill, lumber, rock strata, and prairie grasses—from hand-drawn positives, mounted on hand constructed paperboard rollers. Each roller drum is 24” long, with a 7” circumference.2018 The resulting image when the rollers are printed is a continuous, progressively lighter impression to reference how a landscape, no matter how arresting or alarming, quickly…
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Leveled
Screenprint and laser-engraved linocut on repurposed fabric with appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching; 18″x50″; 2018 Leveled, Prospect , …Better Angels, and KIMBY employ matrices from previous projects, as well as strata and landfill impressions from the Background Noise Project, to address our collective insatiable desire to “Keep up with the Joneses”.
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Prospect
Woodcut, screenprint, and laser engraved linocut on repurposed fabric with appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching; 74″x29″; 2018 Leveled, Prospect , …Better Angels, and KIMBY employ matrices from previous projects, as well as strata and landfill impressions from the Background Noise Project, to address our collective insatiable desire to “Keep up with the Joneses”.
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Wrestling with Our Better Angels
Woodcut, screenprint, and laser engraved linocut on repurposed fabric with appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching; 8’x8′; 2019 Like many of the examples presented herethis piece addresses the unitended consequences of unchecked consumption. The child wrestles with a polluted, indulgent version of himself, made from the “ghost”impressions from the large portrait woodcut.
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Keep Up/Keep Out
Site Responsive Installation; Screenprint and natural dyes on repurposed fabric curtains; Two 96″x54″ panels; 2019 “Keep Up” and “Keep Out” is the central dichotomy of the U.S. today. We are conditioned to strive for material success, hoarding our things while hiding ourselves behind baroque walls, carefully contrived avatars, and confident public personas. The McMansion is…
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Keep Up/Keep Out Protest Flags
Screenprint on repurposed fabrics with appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching; Keep Up 31″x47″, Keep Out 42″x42″; 2019 The dual, dueling mantras of late stage capitalism in America today. Keep Up demands competition and consumption, while Keep Out ensures one’s acquired–though not always earned–privileges and treasures are hoarded.
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Howdy Neighbor
Howdy Neighbor; Freehand machine embroidery, appliqué & reverse appliqué on repurposed fabric, grommets, and flag poles mounted at porch height; Six 3’x2′ flags suspended at 8′ on the wall; 2023 These porch flags play with the metaphor of neighborhood, on the local and global level. Some act as an invitation for care and collaboration, some…
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The Virulent Myth of Upward Mobility
Pochoir, screenprint, chine collé, repurposed fabric on salvaged craft store kitsch canvas (with the text “Love grows Well in Little Houses”) left behind in our kitchen when we purchased our home; 30″x6″; 2021 Created during the pandemic when the expectation to consume in order to “return to normal” felt especially aggressive and egregious, this piece…
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The Best Kind of Neighbors
The Best Kind of Neighbors; Screenprint on repurposed fabric, appliqué & reverse appliqué stitching, and freehand machine embroidery; 72″x33″; 2021 The root forms here reference the interdependence of humanity, and the global ecological neighborhood, by alluding to the hormonal and fungal system that connects a forest. Like that underground network, a neighborhood is possible where…
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Anywhere I Lay My Head
Screenprint on repurposed fabric with machine stitching and hand embroidery; Site responsive installation, current arrangement approximately 36″x48″x10″; 2022 This series discusses class by portraying dwellings as symbols of comfort and security. This first series compares the coziness of our house with the bastions of McMansions, symbols of conspicuous consumption and contemporary isolation. Future sets in…
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Spill
Spill; Site-responsive installation (with Hannah Sanders); Crocheted repurposed fabric, appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching, and snaps; 14’x10′; 2017 Spill, Refuse, and (w)rest are from a series of collaborative fibers-based installations with my partner. The series uses craft and humor to investigate notions of domesticity as we come to terms with our complicity in the mess…
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Anywhere I Lay My Head, Version #2
Screenprint on repurposed fabric, appliqué & reverse appliqué stitching, and salvaged plastic grocery sacks; Site responsive installation;Current arrangement approximately 36”x48”x10”;2022 This series discusses class by portraying dwellings as symbols of comfort and security. This first series compares the coziness of our house with the bastions of McMansions, symbols of conspicuous consumption and contemporary isolation. Future…
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Anywhere I Lay My Head, Version #3
Screenprint on repurposed fabric, appliqué & reverse appliqué stitching, and salvaged plastic grocery sacks;Site responsive installation;Current arrangement approximately 36”x48”x10”;2022 This series discusses class by portraying dwellings as symbols of comfort and security. This first series compares the coziness of our house with the bastions of McMansions, symbols of conspicuous consumption and contemporary isolation. Future sets…
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Born On Third Base
Born On Third Base; Screenprint on repurposed fabric, freehand machine embroidery, appliqué & reverse appliqué stitching, and salvaged fake flowers; 4’x8′; 2023 This piece returns to the theme of the birth of our second child. Our home, the bungalow featured here and in several other pieces, spills out into a large city park featuring a…
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Little House Upon a Foundation of Others’ Homelands
Little House Upon a Foundation of Others’ Homelands; Screenprint on repurposed fabric, weaving, and freehand machine embroidery; 44″x24″; 2023 Our house sits upon the homelands of Indigenous nations. This piece acknowledges six such nations—via stripes of colors from their contemporary flags and/or seals—who occupied what is today Cape Girardeau (source: http://native-land.ca/). Thousands of other displaced…
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KIMBY (Knot In My Backyard)
KIMBY (Knot In My Backyard); Screenprint and laser engraved linocut on repurposed fabric, crochet, and appliqué & reverse appliqué stitching; 56″x48″; 2023 The theme of a covertly interconnected global neighborhood returns in this piece as crochet roots writhe and couple my home with those of my neighbors. The bright colors and loud patterns, like in…
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Refuse
Refuse; Site-responsive installation (with Hannah Sanders); Crocheted repurposed fabric, appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching, and snaps; 2018 Spill, Refuse, and (w)rest are from a series of collaborative fibers-based installations with my partner. The series uses craft and humor to investigate notions of domesticity as we come to terms with our complicity in the mess humanity…
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Raise/Raze
Site Responsive Installation;Crocheted repurposed fabric, appliqué and reverse appliqué stitching, free hand machine embroidery, and ribbon;10’ x 10’ x 9’;2022 Raise/Raze and Two Drained are part of a growing body of crochet installations, usually in collaboration with Hannah Sanders, that juxtaposes ecological miscarriages with our familial bliss. Often thought of as a “home craft”, crochet…