Laura Schmidt
Lacuna, 2024
Paper, tea dye, ink, thread, wood dowel, steel brackets 36" x 26" x 3"
Laura Schmidt
Pectoral 2, 2024
Paper, ink, paint, thread, wood dowel, steel brackets 28" x 48" x 3"
Laura Schmidt
Pectoral, 2024
Paper, ink, paint, thread, cord, rebar 26" x 65" x 3"
In traditional and tribal societies, pectoral ornaments were worn at sacred ceremonies, public celebrations, and sometimes as protective armor. Crafted from culturally significant objects, such as bones, shells, or seeds, or from rare and precious materials, such as jade and gold, pectoral ornaments were signifiers of the wearer’s social position, place of origin, and spiritual beliefs. My Pectoral is an homage to that ancient tradition of expressing identity and community through craft. I began Pectoral by creating abstract designs on large sheets of rice paper using India ink and acrylic paint. I fused the rice paper to Bristol board, which I then cut into 1” squares and machine stitched into 16 chains of increasing length from 25 beads per chain to 100 beads per chain. There are 1000 beads in the completed piece.
Laura Schmidt
Case Study: Memory of a Dream, 2019
Paper, fabric, iron rebar 18" x 19"
Laura Schmidt
Case Study: Dreaming of Mangoes, 2019
Hand-dyed and commercial fabric, thread 41" x 21"
Laura Schmidt
Solstice, 2019
Hand-dyed and commercial fabric, thread 25" x 22"
Laura Schmidt
Fallow Ground, 2019
Paper, fabric, ink, graphite, thread, bamboo 54" x 18"
Laura Schmidt
Interior Monologue, 2017
Paper, hand-dyed and commercial fabric, thread 24" x 16"
Laura Schmidt
Soliloquy, 2019
Paper, hand-dyed and commercial fabric, bamboo 31" x 31"
