Experience

I am currently completing the illustrated and animated manuscript for The Missing Body from the Carmen Miranda Museum.  The Missing Body represents the culmination of ethnographic and archival research conducted at the Carmen Miranda Museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and among the Hollywood star's impersonators in the San Francisco Bay Area, c.2011.  Personal reflection and scholarly research coalesce in this illustrated, experimental book project, which investigates the ways we create social meaning through dress as embodied practice and the role museums play in, at times, subverting and reinforcing identity tropes.

My process is to revisit field notes and the scholarly pieces I've written and presented and to sift through Carmen-related ephemera and other images--some related to Carmen, others not.  Free association guides my hand resulting in drawings, illustrations, collages, and short films.  The written narrative follows.  Click on images at the left to see what I've been sketching as I write the book.

Had a blast working as production designer and costume designer for The Greeting, a short film directed by Brian Shaw, written by Kristina Lebedeva, and starring Angel Smigielski with Mark Comiskey as director of photography.  Visit the film website for the latest information about screenings and festivals: https://thegreetingfilm.com/  Click on the image to the left to see it full size and for other artwork.

During the order to shelter in place, I made my first stop-motion film, GI Joe Morning Scout (31 seconds, March 2020).  I bought Joe for $1 from my big brother in the late 1970s when he outgrew playing with dolls.  Pretty good investment considering that, unlike Arthur, I seem not to have outgrown playing with dolls.  GI Joe Morning Scout was included in the North Dakota Museum of Art's Art in Isolation virtual exhibition (April 2020 until "we can gather in groups again").  Click on the image to see stills from the film.

The year 2019 was a very busy period for me in terms of teaching and publishing.  Nonetheless, I managed to squeeze in some time to draw.  I'm interested in iconography so there are some well-known figures in this selection along with renderings of fashion photos.  Most of the works are in pencil, pen and ink, or the Zebra G-301 gel ink pen.  The Edgar Allen Poe rendering is pen and ink with watercolor.

For almost 6 months in 2015, when I was living in Los Angeles, I was between jobs.  I found myself with a bit of free time on my hands.  So I did what I always do when times get tough--make art.  I've been making collages for some time and have the boxes of paper trash to prove it.  You never know when that old map will come in handy for a project.  As for drawing, I can't recall ever not scrawling in the dirt or on any available surface.  In July 2015 I decided to explore fashion illustration and was fortunate to receive feedback on my croquis from the amazing Nancy Riegelman--thank you, Mood!  Click on the images to the left for a sampling of some of my work from that time.

In April 1919, the Missouri General Assembly passed a law giving Missouri women the right to vote in presidential elections. By August 1920, U.S. Congress ratified the 19^th Amendment granting women throughout the country the right to vote.

This exhibition was organized by the Stephens College Costume Museum and Research Library, which honors the centennial of the Missouri ratification asking, “What’s fashion got to do with suffrage?” 

More than 30 objects from the 1870s to the 1920s are on exhibit, demonstrating how fashion has encumbered and motivated women to seek greater autonomy.  The pieces showed how women used fashion to express changing social roles.  Each section invited the visitor to contemplate the ways fashion-related issues continue to be relevant in the 21^st century.

Please click through the gallery to take a virtual tour of the exhibition.

2019 marks the 75th anniversary of the Stephens College Fashion Program.  This exhibition (February 23 to May 12, 2019), organized by the Stephens College Costume Museum and Research Library, features fourteen different looks designed and constructed by Stephens faculty and students.  Photographs and other archival materials document the program's rich history.  This May I will present my exhibition-related research on the college's 1950s collaboration with Butterick patterns at the Fashion, Style & Global Culture Conference - Drexel University.

Teaching from the Collections (October 6 to December 16, 2018) was organized by the Stephens College Costume Museum and Research Library and featured fourteen ensembles from the 1940s to the 1970s.  Designers' signature techniques and materials were on display with a focus on three of the twentieth century’s most influential American designers: Geoffrey Beene, Bonnie Cashin, and Claire McCardell.  A section called the Fashion Petting Zoo encouraged visitors to examine pieces from the collection.

The Joan Crawford Effect (October 6 to December 17, 2017) was organized by the Stephens College Costume Museum and Research Library.  This exhibition explored the creation of glamour when Academy Award-winning actress, Joan Crawford, collaborated with MGM costume designer, Adrian.  The exhibition featured a Letty Lynton (1932) inspired gown and never before-exhibited Joan Crawford correspondence from the Stephens College Library Archives.  Before she became a starlet with the 1928 release of Our Dancing Daughters, Joan Crawford attended Stephens in 1922 where she was known as Lucile "Billie" Cassin.

I curated and designed the exhibition and was responsible for all exhibition content.  The Columbia, Missouri and Stephens College community provided tremendous support.  Rag Tag Cinema screened Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and Stephens College Design School professor Stephanie Carlo created the exhibition illustrations.  Many thanks to the students who provided support: photography (Katherine Craig and Allison Moorman), exhibition graphic design (Katherine Craig), marketing materials (Cierra Bergan and Jasmine Meurer of Creative Ink), installation (Katherine Craig), and library archives (Janet Reinschmidt and Erika Westhoff).

Head Over Heels was an exhibition (February to June 2017) organized by the Costume Museum and Research Library at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri.  The exhibition featured hats, shoes, and accessories from the 1940s to the 1960s contextualizing merchandising and shopping in the mid-twentieth century.  I curated the exhibition and received curatorial assistance from then-Stephens College junior, Katherine Craig, who created exhibition graphics and supplied installation photographs.

As the first Anawalt Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for the Study of Regional Dress, conducted research in the collections.  Investigated practices of collecting indigenous Mesoamerican dress and the impact different collectors have had on the Fowler collections. 

Curator for the Stephens College Costume Museum and Research Library.  Established in 1958, the collections have grown to more than 13,000 pieces thanks to donations from alumnae, friends and designers.  Holdings include designer wear, ethnic dress, and everyday women's, mens, and children's clothing.  The Historic Costume Gallery located on the mezzanine of Lela Raney Wood Hall at 6 North College Avenue in Columbia, Missouri, hosts two exhibitions annually. 

Responsibilities included coordinating the installation/de-installation of the exhibit and providing tours and educational introductions. 

Hollywood Costume was a traveling exhibition featuring over 150 historic and contemporary Hollywood costumes. The exhibit was curated by Deborah Nadoolman Landis and orginated in 2012 at London's Victoria and Albert Museum.  For the final tour stop, the exhibition was expanded to include 30% more costumes. Hollywood Costume was hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, California October 2, 2014 through March 2, 2015. 

Project specialist responsibilities included performing minor conservation on historic Hollywood film costumes and constructing muslin mock-ups and underpinnings.

The Paramount is an Art Deco movie palace that has been restored to its 1931 glory, earning it the distinction of National Historic Landmark.  Work at the Paramount included leading public and private tours, consulting on grant proposals, and conducting original research on the building and its historic presence in Oakland, California.

Temple Israel is a restored 1884 Reform synagogue located in Leadville, Colorado. The synagogue is an exceptional reminder of a bygone era when people from all walks of life sought their fortunes in the High Rockies. Featuring 57 objects, “Pioneer Jewish Leadville” (2012) is the museum’s inaugural permanent exhibition based on original research. In addition to serving as exhibit curator, work for the non-profit Temple Israel Foundation has included designing and writing promotional materials, consulting on grant proposals, cataloguing the collection, re-housing artifacts, leading tours, mount-making, and acquisitions consulting.

The privately owned Roy and Sophia Sieber African Art Collection represents over 50 years of collecting and research.  Roy Sieber is considered the founder of African Art History as a discipline.  With his wife, Sophia, he shared his appreciation for African Art through scholarship, teaching, and museum exhibitions.  Work in the collection included collaborating with Sophia Sieber to organize materials (e.g. field notes, manuscript drafts, correspondence) spanning Roy Sieber’s entire career.

The Mathers Museum of World Cultures is home to a collection of over 30,000 objects representing each of the world’s inhabited continents. Housed at the Mathers is the Royce Collection of Isthmus Zapotec Textiles and Clothing, which represents anthropologist Anya Royce’s years of research and collecting in Juchitán, Oaxaca, México. Work at the Mathers included cataloging the Royce Collection and curating the exhibit “Clothes, Collections, and Culture . . . What is a Curator?” (2009-2010). The exhibit’s objective was twofold: to feature Zapotec clothing, textiles, and 3D objects not publicly displayed in over 30 years and to do so in a way that would pull back the curtain on behind-the-scenes activities at a museum.

The Chicago History Museum cares for and exhibits millions of artifacts and archives related to the city’s history.  Initially serving as a volunteer in the Costume Collection, Lori eventually became Collection Manager for Costumes overseeing the care of 50,000 + costumes, textiles, and accessories.