Walking Skirts
at ASU Ceramics Research Center

This series are made of rusted paper or naturally dyed and inked raw silk that reference women’s skirts from past centuries. These forms recall the era when the only freedom allowed for many women was to walk out in nature during breaks from housework and other social duties. The long and voluminous skirts women were required to wear were impractical for hiking, quickly becoming dew-sodden or muddy. Classic literature and modern movies have created scenes where women are scolded or scorned for daring to be seen wearing the clothes they sullied while exercising their small freedoms. 

The Walking Skirts invite you to celebrate the beauty in the stains and grime that can come with exercising your freedoms.

In the summer of 2023, I had the amazing opportunity to work in the exhibition area at ASU Art Museum’s Ceramics Research Center. This residency gave me the space and time to work on larger versions of the Walking Skirts I’ve been making for several years.

Literal space gave let me create larger work than will fit in my home studio. The two works I made—The Wanderer Above the Driftwood and The Guardian—are the largest fiber sculptures I’ve built to date. I needed six 6’ x 30” tables pushed together to layout the pieces that made up the 8’ tall Guardian.

The three-month residency also gave me the time to experiment with the process I’d developed for the skirts. Not only did the surface design take exponentially longer, but I then had to create outsized versions of a couturierer’s pleating board to make the pleats that are the signature of these skirts.

Photos by Craig Smith