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Winter 2006 Departments
Exchange
Prerequisite
Extended Family
Foundation News
Alumni Association News
Zip 01003
Books Received
Alumni Photos
Features
Why You Should Love Polymers
Where There's Spark
Falling for Shelburne Falls
Where Are They Now?
Lessons in the Sand
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Extended Family
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A Bathroom of Her Own
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—Hannah L. Drake ’06
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TALK ABOUT AN EXTREME MAKEOVER: Artist Cynthia Consentino ’97G was recently commissioned to design a washroom at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Named for the founder of the venerable plumbing fixtures company, the Center is famous for its artful bathrooms. Consentino’s contribution is named “The Women’s Room.”
A cross between Victorian style and 1950s-era feel, Consentino wanted “The Women’s Room” to be as welcoming, chaotic, and messy as a woman’s bathroom would be at home. A dress hangs on the wall, clothes soak in the sink, the countertop is strewn with painted images of hairpins and jewelry; women’s undergarments and accessories are painted on white tile in the stalls.
“The imagery portrays and embraces those things considered female and even a feminine ideal, but it does so to question or create a dialogue about our notion of female,” says Consentino. “[The florals have] a negative aspect: decorative, superficial, generic, overused.”
The main wall comprises 10 figures, dissected into three separate mismatched tiles, which symbolize the imagery and perception of women and girls in recent history.
Consentino says most of her inspiration for the design came from mythology and symbology that relates to women. “There’s a Medusa in there, a girl with a wolf head, and a girl with a rabbit head. A woman as a Playboy Bunny represents one of society’s views of women,” she explains. Consentino is excited about her work at the Kohler Arts Center. “Most people can relate to something in the bathroom,” she muses. “It’s definitely a bathroom for and about women.”
For more photos of “The Women’s Room,” visit www.jmkac.org/washrooms/consentino.htm |
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In Memoriam
Up, Up, and Away
Up, Up, and Away: larger image
Life at Full Gallop
Life at Full Gallop: larger image
For the Love of Dance
For the Love of Dance: larger image
A Bathroom of Her Own
A Bathroom of Her Own: larger image
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