Cradled And All
Stuffed animals play a key role in childhood development and independence. Sewn from fabric and stuffed with soft material, these toys provide comfort to a child and help develop a consciousness of “the self.” This gives the child the ability to relate to people by differentiation of internal and external life. My immigration status heightening my sense of anxiety and fear as a child. In the piece “Cradle And All,” stuffed animals are ripped, torn and randomly reassembled. The head of a frog is sewn on top of a duck’s foot with embroidery floss, while other limbs are dispersed individually. Using the “slip dipping” method, these hybrid creatures are dipped in liquid clay, fired and glazed. This process is ceremonial and symbolic due to the burning of the interior and the newly born hard, yet fragile, body. The resulting forms are scattered across a knitted baby blanket with the letter “G” embroidered in remembrance of Guadalupe, my birth name.
