/Melody R. Fortier
Melody Fortier
Meet Me in the Sewing Garden Where We Can Share Our Stories
mixed media
8″ x 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″
2024
The thimbles in this work were collected from old sewing boxes found at yard sales and thrift stores. The thimbles are well worn, representing countless hours of hand sewing by their nameless owners. Though we will never know their stories, this piece is an invitation for us to perhaps share our own.
MelodyFortierCrevado.com
Melody Fortier
Perhaps Some Found Answers #2
archival pigment print photograph in found case on found shelf, acrylic paint, mica flakes, crepe paper garland, faux berries,vines, sculpted paste leaves
18″ x 18″ x 9″
2022
A preoccupation with death and the afterlife played a prominent role in Victorian era culture. Funerary practices became more elaborate, headstones and monuments were increasingly extravagant for families of means and the growing population called for greater numbers of graveyards. Some of our old cemeteries have become hidden and overgrown, others expanded over the decades and are still well tended. Such conspicuous treatment of the dead has faded with time. These haunting and beautiful burial grounds are woven into our landscapes, quiet, contemplative places available to those who chose to visit. Photo taken in Gardner, MA.
Melody Fortier
Over Time They Became Obsolete #2
archival print photograph in custom shadowbox assemblage. Acrylic painted millinery flowers, mica shards and flakes, wax candles. millinery netting gold pleated paper.
24″ x 18″ x 2″
2023
Much of my work expresses my relationship with the illusion of time and permanence and my spiritual connection to humanity. The garters in the photo were collected from old sewing boxes that I found in thrift stores. The persons who wore and saved them will be forever anonymous. To me these intimate treasures whisper of a life lived. My garter pieces are an homage to the evanescent nature of existence, both the bitter and the sweet. This work is second in a series of four.
Melody Fortier
For Naomi
acrylic and mica on wood, painted wood molding, glass dome, millinery netting/trim, found garter
10″ x 6″ x 2 1/4″
2023
For years I have been salvaging vintage hose garters from old sewing boxes. I am mesmerized by their lovely little shapes as well as their hidden history. This piece is one in an ongoing series, each enshrining an individual garter. Each garter has an anonymous past, something for our imaginations to ponder, To me they are dear and intimate objects to be treasured. I dedicated each piece to a person from my life who has passed on, whose own old garters are now lost to time. This piece is for Naomi.
Melody Fortier
Gilding The Forest Floor
gilded paper clay casts, embellished wood boxes, hand-assembled table, velvet, found sycamore branches
69″ x 43″ x 21″
2024
This piece is a tribute to our surrounding New England woodlands. Each box contains a gilded, paper clay cast of objects I collected from the forest floor (nuts, pinecones, leaves and the like). The fallen sycamore branches were gathered from those same woods. Sycamore was chosen as it symbolizes resilience and protection.
https://melodyfortier.crevado.com
Melody Fortier
Sacred Cadence of Decay and Genesis
Inspired by: Henry George Todd, Study of Strawberries
watercolor paint and watercolor pencil on acid free cold pressed paper
28″ x 22″ (unframed) 29″ x 23″ (framed)
2024
My painting is a celebration of the rhythm, the cadence if you will, of the life process. Desiccation and decay coexist along side the promise of regeneration that resides in the dried kernels. For me this sacred design of nature is beyond miraculous, I am an avid gardener and my gardens are my sanctuary. I chose to paint a single cob, floating, perhaps ascending, as a nod to the mystery, the power and the divine that is interwoven into this cycle. We cannot exist without it.
/Artist Melody Fortier