Dungaree Deviations

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Artist: Marie Bergstedt

Title: Dungaree Deviations

Attribution: Dungaree Deviations, 2021, Marie Bergstedt

Year: 2021

Materials: Denim, wool, cotton, buttons, recycled clothing, needlepoint canvas

Dimensions: 49"H x 36"W x 3"D

Image Statement: “Dungaree Deviations” casts in stitches, buttons and denim my vision of Jim Arendt, a fiber artist I met in 2013 at a Fiberart International exhibition. We later became friends, although we seldom see each other and live about 3000 miles (4800 km) apart. The friendship is based on our early childhood experiences growing up in the state of Michigan, where we were poor and needed to hold income-earning jobs at ages 9 and 11. Each of us also uses family members and close friends as models to tell more universal stories about our cultural concerns. Arendt's three children dominate a treasured portion of his life and Facebook posts. In this artwork his children are represented by small dungarees, dancing into his brain, so that his ideas can come out in denim.