Melissa Dorn
Muff at Play, 2024
Acrylic, pencil, industrial felt, mop, fur, string, and latch hook canvas 41 x 16 x 6 inches
This work creates a self-portrait that weaves together memories of my past self with current obsessions. The faux fur I enjoyed wearing for outings is combined with cut mop and the repetitive nature of latch hooking. I emulate the muff, an object reminiscent of my childhood, that joins in on the fun.
Melissa Dorn
Muff at Work, 2024
Industrial felt, snow fence, mop, latch hook canvas. 46 x 15 x 6 inches.
This work intertwines a current “self-portrait”, the messy bun that I wear when hard at work, and an object from my past, the muff, which has also been put to work through the structure of the snow fence.
Melissa Dorn
Fem-Utility Closet: Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum, 2023
Mop, industrial felt, canvas, acrylic paint, marker, pencil, snow fence, wood, latch hook canvas. 10 x 13 x 4 feet
Installed at the Charles Allis Art Museum in Sarah Ball Allis' bathroom, formerly used as a store room. Part of the Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum exhibition, a feminist intervention by curator and artist Kate E. Schaffer.
Melissa Dorn
Fem-Utility Closet: Throne, 2024
Latch hooked and glued mop, hand-painted industrial felt, snow fence, reupholstered ottoman, fabric, and acrylic. 50 x 60 x 55 inches.
n thinking more about Fem-utility Closets, I started a series of sketches where I play with the interaction of works and space.
Melissa Dorn
High Maintenance, 2022
Mop, foam, 1,000 t-pins, wood stool 40 x 14 x 14 inches
Mop is attached to the foam with T-pins, referencing a craft kit I did as a child. I was called “high maintenance” by my ex-husband, and I wanted to own this term that is often used in a derogatory way when describing women.
Melissa Dorn
Blue Teddy, 2021
Mop, foam, wood stool 24 x 18 x 13 inches
Blue Teddy explores the labor put forth by women in and out of the bedroom through the over 1,000 individual cut pieces of industrial mop head that are attached meticulously to a form that references the body.
Melissa Dorn
A Soft Space to Land, 2021
Mop, acrylic, industrial felt, mop handle 83 x 60 x 7 inches
Industrial felt was chosen as the foundation for this work because of its utility and strength, forming a protective cape. Constructed organically over months, the grid kept me tethered to my practice, line after line. A deconstructed mop, first attached and later trimmed, creates a soft spot to land, an invitation of sorts.
Melissa Dorn
Fem-utility Closet: Tawney, 2025
Mop, latch hook canvas, industrial felt, wood, canvas, fabric, acrylic, stones, and found ottomans 11 feet x 8 feet 7 inches x 4 feet
Welcome to Fem-utility Closet: Tawney, emboldened by the work and life of Lenore Tawney. This is a soft place to land in a world full of indifference and the hard edges of patriarchy and capitalism, a place to reflect on how we interact with maintenance. I invite you to rest on the Ottowomen and partake in the humor and absurdity surrounding you.
Melissa Dorn
Mop Toaster, 2016
Mop, latch hook canvas, wood, acrylic 15 x 14 x 8 inches
Melissa Dorn
Mop XXV, 2017
Mop, snow fence, latch hook canvas, mop handle 96 x 54 inches
