Fossil Garment #1      34"H x 26"W

Fossil Garment #2   36"H x 27"W

Fossil Garment # 4   37"H x 24"W

Hidden in the Walls   42"H x 29"W

   the text on this piece reads:

    The corset shapes the body

    the body shapes the shoe

     Babies were buried in the foundations

     animals concealed under the floorboards

     shoes hidden in the walls

     to keep away witches

     to keep away plague

     to keep away evil

        As a part of daily life, sewing is a dying skill. Expertise that was passed down, mother to

  daughter, for hundreds of years is now dying out: types of mending are no longer general

  knowledge, and most young people don’t own a pin cushion. Hence, my work shows textiles in

  an archaeological context.

In my latest series, Fossil Garments, the work is presented as fossil specimens. The

  deconstructed garments – sometimes embedded in handmade felt – are offered for  inspection

on taut surfaces. By carefully cutting apart and  arranging the garments, their human connection

  is emphasized. Crochet and lace, showing through the almost transparent garments, appear

  skeletal. I used mending techniques in overlapping layers, sometimes obscuring parts of the

  garments, sometimes  cutting through them. The rigid framing exposes the somewhat

  sentimental clothing in an unemotional perspective, allowing the viewer to examine the

  clothing as archaeology.

Mending Fossil (Queen of Mending)

                   50”H x 32”W

Fossil Garment # 6   40” x 24”

Overgrown Fossil  68"H x 49"W

Fossil Garments....Diane Savona

My latest fossil, Landscape of a Past Civilization  51”h x 36”w