Embroidered History - Jorie Van Nest  
 

Jorie Van Nest believes that art should be something more than an object of aesthetic appreciation or a practice cloistered in a studio. It is an ever-evolving site for socio-cultural revision; a place of critique, collaboration, controversy, and compassion. Working at the intersection of art and archaeology is always an act of social-engagement as we creatively reflect on the bonds between time and place, artist and viewer, manufacturer and consumer. 

For Consumption is an embroidered model/depiction of a green Piso’s Cure for Consumption patent medicine bottle by Hazelton and Company which was found near Kingston, New York. The counterpart of For Consumption is Pound, an embroidered model/depiction of a blue Lydia Pinkham’s Vegetable Compound bottle fragment found near Whiteport, New York. Both artifacts were collected between 2017 and 2018 for the Rosendale Cement Mining District Archaeology Project by Jeff Benjamin and his team. 

Inspired by the myriad of colors, Jorie wanted to showcase the complex beauty of these glass bottles in a place where their colors and emotional presence could be honored. When we sew or draw something, each stitch and stroke are acts of care, as we follow each curve, each mark. Jorie is grateful for the opportunity to appreciate these artifacts as archaeological discoveries, objects with complex histories and artistic muses. 

The embroidery hoops provide a space for viewers to ponder what an embodied, embroidered history looks like. In the work that Jorie made, the softness of the threads contrast, juxtapose, and counter the sharp rigid lines of the glass fragments. The uncut strands of the threads extend beyond the confines of the bottles and allow us to consider the emotional past and present of these artifacts across time, place, and community. In addition, these strands allow us to expand the significance of the artifacts beyond their status as physical vessels towards a status of objects of historical and artistic value.  As Jorie writes:

“While they can be viewed as objects of value, the patent medicines that were once container in these bottles (such as Piso’s Cure) are wrapped in ethical implications. With their dangerous synergy of morphine, alcohol, cannabis, and heroin, these medical “cures” could also cause more harm than they could heal. As they interact and as they influence different narratives, the tangled nature of these threads reflects these complicated and troubled medicines. By marrying the domestic medium of cross-stitch with the era of these bottles, we trace the threads of tradition across history and see their enduring continuity and contribution to modernity. All in all, I wanted to offer something that was three-dimensional and sensorily-engaging, particularly in the context of a renewed value for tangibility during the current COVID pandemic.” 

Jorie made this work as part of a virtual internship in the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University under the supervision of PhD student, Jeff Benjamin. One component of the internship was co-designing (with Natalia Granquistan), an online museum for an exhibition entitled The Soil is Sentient, originally to be installed in the Low Memorial Library Rotunda at Columbia University in spring of 2020. COVID 19 restrictions made inaccessible that physical exhibit. The Soil is Sentient also wrestled with questions of place as the internship cohort tried to convey a sense of place and being in a virtual platform for a museum.  Through digital archaeological simulation, sound clips/music, flying objects, and kaleidoscopic image effects, Jorie and her colleagues intentionally challenged and redefined the traditional bounds of one’s engagement with art work, as they sought to create the most interactive viewer experience possible.   

Jorie Van Nest is an undergraduate student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.  She studies Religion and Studio Art with a concentration in Middle Eastern Studies. Her artistic practice ranges from photography to sculpture/installation to fabric arts, but revolves around themes of interreligious dialogue, cultural anthropology, and political engagement. For graduate school, Jorie hopes to pursue an MFA in photography and visual culture, returning to either her native East Coast or studying internationally.

If you would like to contact Jorie, use this email address:

vannes1@stolaf.edu