Talk Scarves for the Thinking Woman
Wearable Art by Pat Kaufman
December 16-30 Stakenborg Fine Art Gallery
This limited-edition series features thought-provoking scarves showcasing images and words from Pat Kaufman’s original works.
(Sarasota, FL) When is a scarf more than a scarf? When its one of artist Pat Kaufmans Talk Scarves, a limited-edition series of thought-provoking silk scarves showcasing powerful images and words from her original paintings. A limited-edition of 10 of these wearable art pieces will be showcased December 16-30, in the window of the Stakenborg Fine Art Gallery, 1545 Main Street, Sarasota. Several of Kaufmans original paintings will also be featured. For more information, call 941-487-8001.
Why scarves?
Kaufman says its all about impact. She recalls what happened when she wore her first prototype scarf on a test run in New York City in 2014. Women came up to me asking where I got it and where they could get it. I think I struck a nerve! The artist instantly realized that her art scarves spark ideas and generate conversations. Thats why Im calling this exhibition, Talk Scarves, she says. My scarves get people talking. And theyre great to wrap around the necks of friends and loversor to hide a not-so-lovely neck. Kaufman adds that each design is numbered and printed in editions of 75.
Kaufman’s scarf collection includes designs that celebrate new babies, Halloween, love, the end of love and the circus. Better Already, shows a woman recovering from a hip operation; another slyly satirizes lawyers; one that both celebrates new babies and the right not to have one; and Emotional Emergency, with its burst of rainbow colors is, medicine for anyone seeking romance or healing from a bad romance, says Kaufman.
Kaufmans love affair scarves began in 2014. Thats when she created her first art scarf as a fundraiser for the National Organization for Women. That now-famous prototype featured a vignette of two women from Not Dead Yet, Kaufman’s large-scale painting of six, multicolored women. She describes the scarfs accompanying poem as, Fighting words in response to an overcritical boyfriend. I wrote the poem in 1972 to inspire other women to stand up and fight back against ridiculous sexist accusations. It was really a form of political consciousness-raising.
Kaufman, who is also an established author, has published dozens of plays, screenplays, and books and describes herself as a storyteller in paint and fire words. I critique, with humor I hope, the absurdity of the human condition. The human face, figure, psyche and soul have always been the centerpiece of my work. I celebrate freedom while taking a slightly comedic and irreverent scalpel to the puzzles of life and justice.
For more information about Pat Kaufmans writings and artwork, visit www.patriciakaufman.com.
