Open Door Gallery

Liz Doles

Nothing is Wasted in God's Economy

May 1, 2017 - August 1, 2017

Reception: June 1, 2017 from 4pm to 7pm

Artist Statement

Outside Colombo, the main city in Sri Lanka, a country with a huge garment industry, there is a market for surplus clothing, notions and remnants. There I discovered a shop that had bags and bags of clothing labels. I had wanted to make quilts from labels for a very long time. I came back to the States with these bags and bags of labels. I started scouring the thrift stores and free clothing closets in my area for labels in used clothing. I took labels from my own and from friends shirts, pants and coats. I was elated when I found a characterful label. I incorporated scraps. I was barred from the free clothing closet next door to me because I frequented it too often. I also started a series using inside out faces from stuffed animals.

Deep into the night, I sewed.

At first I thought using such materials was a statement about what and whom is deemed useless in our consumer driven culture. But as these constructions evolved, I realized I was approaching them as a painter. Each label, each patch were planes of color. Like brush strokes, they exist in a space that is part of and yet separate from the physical world. I understood that there is bigger, more important message than decrying the plight of the disenfranchised: that color, by its very nature, has the power to transform and transfigure. By its own energy, color has power to heal. In these works, the bits of stuff become color and light itself. Truly, nothing is wasted in God's economy.

Liz Doles is a multidisciplinary artist who previously exhibited at the Open Door Gallery in 2013 with Sri Lanka Pinhole Photography and Portraits, and in 2011 with Pinhole Photography - "Without A Lens". Learn more about Liz at www.lizdoles.com.

All of Liz Doles' fabric creations are for sale. Visit or contact the gallery staff for details.

The Open Door Gallery promotes the work of artists with disabilities and shifts our community's perceptions of ability while enjoying quality art.

Also visit Open Door Gallery at the Worcester Art Museum.