HAND SEWN MASKS by Kathrine Page

An instrumental founding member and first president of the Board of Directors at The Delaware Contemporary, Gina Bosworth’s art explores life through the molecular and macroscopic arena to visualize the workings of organic matter. She calls it the “confluence of science and art,” where the formal elements of design affirm and closely relate to the natural world order. Using various fibers and raw materials her layered constructs consider the circular contours of atoms, cells, and molecules. In this mask, the random life form of cells, symbolized in the polka-dots, are woven into the pattern, the “protective membrane” of the silk fabric remnants. The design is unified by both the ribbons that imply movement and communication among the cells, and the button, which echoes the polka-dots in the silk pieces, and the color, to symbolize red blood cells. The mask has come full circle corresponding with Bosworth’s work in the material (cotton and silk) since silk is a fiber produced by the silk worm and cotton contains ninety-percent cellulose, an organic compound essential for robust cellular structure. And now with the pandemic, masks are an essential barrier to provide robust respiratory protection from the deposition of droplets of the airborne viral and bacterial particulates. This mask is all about the confluence of science and art.

Cotton, silk, polyester ribbon, button, Pellon interfacing.

Check out Bosworth’s exhibition I curated with my assistant Michele Dao at The Delaware Contemporary: https://www.decontemporary.org/confluence