Fabric Works

Harmony Hammond’s move from Minneapolis to New York in 1969 initiated a period of rapid and intense development, as Hammond—trained in abstract painting—immersed herself in the activities and communities of second-wave feminism in downtown New York. Interested in “women’s arts,” she repurposed domestic fabrics and incorporated traditional weaving and braiding techniques into her practice, developing a unique painterly approach that married traditional and contemporary practices. In 1971, Hammond began to make works from blankets, sheets, bedspreads, and curtains that she tied and sewed together. Painted in acrylic, these evocative pieces were either draped on the wall to form her series of Bags (1971), assembled into life-sized sculptures for her Presences (1971–72), or braided into her Floorpieces (1973). The histories of the used fabrics, which were given to the artist by friends, added an important resonance to the materials. As Lucy Lippard wrote in 1981, “these figures were full—of women’s history, of the dignity of lost lives. The strips of rag and painted tunic-like panels seemed both elegantly ornamental and homely, worn by use or survival, layered into an accretion of energy from the past.”