Marilyn Annin

Marilyn Annin's sculptured garments are metaphors for specific themes, attitudes and customs of our everyday habits. Beginning with a welding torch and quarter-inch steel rod she builds an armature that can function as an internal support or play a definitive role in the detailing of each work of art. The next step is to integrate discarded objects such as buttons, can tabs, broken jewelry, fabric scraps, safety pins - the detritus of our culture - into a rich, tactile fabric. Combining these dissimilar materials in a life-size garment draws the viewer into an intimate relationship and affords a more personal interpretation. Annin has her B.S. in art education from the University of Wisconsin. She focused on painting until she took a class that was offered to painters to think in three dimensional terms. She developed a love for the demands of creating spatially. In 1993 she was awarded a National Endowment/Arts Midwest Fellowship. Her work has been featured in American Craft, Sculpture and Fiberarts magazines and two books: "Costume Maker's Art" and "Lifework: Portraits of Iowa Women Artists". Iowa Public Television's "Living in Iowa" has featured her as well. Annin’s sculptures are meant to inspire humor and thoughtfulness in the viewer who can envision the garment on their own body and makes her art more tangible and understandable.