“Gibbosity*' photo Stephen Funk.
furniture,” she says. “It helped me under-
stand what was underneath.”
A statement on femininity, Liner’s Orbs
address women’s struggle for power in
today’s society—an underlying theme in her
art. Her Orbs are an evolution of earlier
work. Her Take a Piece series, 2005, placed
models in satin and silk organza dresses,
structured by metal bands. Using an adhe-
sive, she built fabric cabinets lined with
clear plastic into the dresses and filled each
one with a piece of candy that viewers
could reach in and take. “Gibbosity,” a 2006
show, was Liner’s first attempt to connect
the body with upholstery and furniture. Up-
holstered objects were strapped on models,
creating a sense o f furniture as body exten-
sions. “They made me think of baggage,
but also plastic surgery,” she says. Even the
models’ hair, styled by Jason Heussner,
brings to mind the over-the-top coiffures of
18th- and 19th-century upper-class women—
women whose job it was to look beautiful.
“It’s an exploration between domestic
space, furniture and sexuality,” Liner says.
“W e are bombarded by pop culture. There
are certain expectations about what it
means to be a female in today’s society.”
Liner premiered her Orbs in the group
show “Vested Interest,” at the John
Michael Kohler Arts Center in 2008. The
collection, “Momentos of a Doomed Con-
struct” (she purposely misspelled memento
to illustrate the merging of a moment and
a memory), was then shown as a solo exhi-
bition at the Allen Priebe Gallery at the
University of Wisconsin-Osh Kosh. The
Orbs say that although sex is a gift, it is hol-
low; there is a power struggle. One Orb pro-
trudes from each side of a wall in the center
of the room. The back, an uncovered struc-
ture of plywood, represents the male, and
the upholstered front is the female. “Some
people see it as the woman pushing through
barriers,” Liner says. “I see it as the woman
being stuck as she tries to get through.”
The artist’s work is deeply personal,
stemming from her private experiences as
a woman, yet she feels it speaks to cultural
norms. “M y goal is to reach a wider audi-
ence on the pressures of being female,” Lin-
er says. “I like to stick with what I know.”*
stephanieliner.com
Below: It was in her
2006 exhibition
“Gibbosity" that Liner
began exploring the
relationship between
women, domestic space
and furniture. She
strapped upholstered
objects to models such
as Hailey Huizenga.
Right: A viewer photo-
graphs the model Jancllc
Skoyen inside
C h e rry
B o m b ,
an Orb wrapped
in black sequins exhib-
ited in “Momentos of
a Doomed Construct.”
june/julyio american craft 027
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