Martha L. Mcdonald: Dress Me Slow, I'm in a Hurry

Baltimore, MD
October 25-27, 2007

Project Coordinator, Kelly Cobb
featuring Micheal Simmons on flamenco and classical guitars and mandolin

As the 2007 artist-in-residence at Evergreen, I was invited to make a site-specific work inspired by the house museum, its collection and its history. I was fascinated by Evergreen's idiosyncratic patroness Alice Garrett, who, in addition to being an esteemed art patron and high profile wife of a diplomat, sang, danced and staged lavish productions she called Songs in Costume in the 1920s in an in-home theater designed by Ballets Russes set and costume designer Leon Bakst.

As I researched Alice's archives, I discovered that while she was a consummate entertainer, Alice was not a very good singer or dancer and was deeply conflicted about her artistic aspirations. As an artist who has developed a performance form based on my passion for the music, obsession with costumes and an untrained stage persona (rather than undisputed vocal talent and acting skills), I felt a powerful affinity with Alice and developed the piece around our similarities and differences. Dress Me Slow was my own version of Songs in Costume. I sang songs drawn from Alice's repertoire of Irish an Spanish folk songs; wore costumes I designed and handmade inspired by the intensely colored costumes Bakst created for Alice; and shared monologues exploring Alice's conflicted artistic aspirations and my own ambivalence as a artist.

Throughout the piece, I was in a constant state of changing from one costume to another as a metaphor for the multiple identities that Alice navigated in her life—ambassadress, socialite, social reformer, art patron and performer.

IRISH COSTUME:

The Irish costume was inspired by the Irish selkie, or mermaid. The belt suggests the ubiquitous Irish seaweed, with the brown i-cords on the belt, around my neck and in my hair referencing the ropey kind of seaweed. The "gloves" riff off cable-knit Irish fishermen sweaters.

Knit head-to-toe without a pattern, the costume is an exploration in increasing and decreasing stitches to create the bell-like bottom of the dress and gloves and the curling tendrils of the seaweed belt.

SPANISH COSTUME:

The Spanish costume is a traditional flamenco dress rendered in a confection of red, purple and hot pink. It was inspired by a painting in the house by Miguel Covarrubias depicting Alice dancing the flamenco and a photo of Baltimore opera singer Rosa Ponsel as Carmen.

The ruffles were hand dyed before construction and the bodice was hand painted (see process shots below). Kelly Cobb, Instructor in the Fiber Department at MICA and project coordinator for Dress Me Slow, taught me gradation dye techniques to achieve the fade effect. Kelly dyed the embroidery floss and bias tape to my specifications and I embroidered the lyrics of one of the songs I sang on the ruffles. I hand painted fabric for the flowers, which were constructed by a group of friends at a flower-making party. Kelly designed and constructed the wig.

EXOTIC COSTUME:

The Exotic costume was inspired by Leon Bakst’s boldly colored, wildly patterned designs for the Ballets Russes.

Under the guidance of Kelly Cobb, I designed the fabric from drawings I made of plants and birds while walking the grounds of Evergreen during the magic hour each evening. Kelly taught me how to hand paint the designs onto silk for the harem pants and Turkish vest (see process shots below). MICA Fiber student Hanna Brancato screen printed the sheer scarf as well as a theatrical backdrop in the design. All scarves were hand dyed.