Carton Couture, 2019

Nancy started this sculpture in 2007 when she discovered that inside the food cartons used for milk alternatives and soups, is a beautiful silver lining and when you pulled this off of the exterior layer, a lovely snowy white paper is revealed. Around that time she saw a dress Penelope Cruz wore to the Oscars and the idea for this dress was born. She made the base dress out of old ripped tablecloths, then started sewing the wavy carton strips onto the bottom slowly working my way up. She worked on this dress on-and-off for about 11 years(!), but felt stuck about what to do on the top.

One day while talking about the dress with an artist friend, Kristin Wessel, some ideas started to flow and Nancy asked her to collaborate with her on finishing the piece. Where Nancy felt stuck, Kristin was inspired to explore pattern, shape and texture and together we created this dynamic belt, coat and “ruff” or collar.

They finished the dress in time for a local trash fashion contest, and won first place

The Coat of Hope, 2019

Nancy started this project in 2016 after the presidential elections when she was feeling shocked and fearful. She decided she needed an infusion of hope, so initiated this project asking people across the US what they were hopeful about. Hundreds of statements of hope were written by people of all ages onto the white strips. The coat’s base and the strips were made from the same plastic sheeting used to make Bella. Read more about this project in this blog post.

The Bee Cape, 2019

This Cape, made from plastic sheeting died with tumeric, was made in collaboration with Heather Swan, author of “Where Honeybees Thrive.” The Bee Cape traveled with Swan as she toured with her book, which focuses in large part on listening to the bees. She seeks to learn what they need at present when facing rapid decline due to problems such as ubiquitous pesticide use, habitat reduction, and climate change. It also addresses the strategies we can employ to save the honeybees and other pollinators. After each talk, Swan invited her audience (which included people from South Africa, Holland, Australia, Spain, Germany, and many states in the U.S.) to add a message to the Cape about what they have learned from the bees.

The bees inspired messages that included practical advice like: “Plant native flowers,” “Stop using pesticides,” and “Buy organic food.” But they also delivered messages for us as humans living on a fragile planet: “Connect, collaborate, cooperate, create.” and “Listen to the insects…tend our garden kindly.”

The Rise Above Plastics Cape, 2019

The Rise Above Plastics Cape was created in collaboration with the Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. It was made over the course of 2019 at public workshops where members of the public used a needle to thread straws onto a string that Nancy then attached to the Cape. The workshops took place at:

• The Oregon Capital in conjunction with the Rise Above Plastics Day at the legislature, during the day 300 students learned about the problems with plastics in the ocean, took a pledge to stop using single use plastics and then helped string the straws for the cape.
• Screening of the film RiverBlue hosted by the Portland Chapter of Surfrider, where Nancy also served on a panel that explored the social and environmental impacts of our clothing.
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry – “Nights at the Museum”
• World Rivers Day at the Oregon Zoo
• Oregon Museum of Science and Industry – “Science Pub Series”

The Cape was created to inspire people to eliminate or reduce single-use plastics such as straws, cutlery, to-go containers/cup tops, and condiment packets. Please consider taking a pledge to reduce single use plastics in your life here.

The straws were donated to the project by the Portland Convention Center and Vibrant Table Catering. Many food service businesses were left with a huge stock of straws after committing to offer straws only upon request as part of Portland, Oregon’s Single-use plastics reduction policy.

This project is supported in part by a project grant from the Portland Regional Arts & Culture Council.

Citrus Lace Dress, 2020

This sculpture, made from orange peels, brings attention to the issues of food waste, composting, buying organic produce and eating a plant based diet.

The dress is fashioned out of several layers of “lace” made from upcycled cheese-cloth decorated with “sequins” cut from citrus peels. The design of the dress is inspired by fashions from the 1900’s belle époque period and the lace pattern is based upon a dress belonging to Nancy’s great-grandmother. The entire piece including the thread, is entirely biodegradable.

According to a 2017 Natural Resources Defense Council report, 40% of the food we produce in the United States is thrown away. At the same time, 42 million Americans face food insecurity- less than 1/3 of  the food we discard would be enough to feed this population.

The Suit of Invisible Settler Privilege, 2020

This sculpture was created in Indigenous Cultural Sensitivity trainings offered through Live Oak Consulting, a Native owned business, and facilitated by Deana Dartt, PhD and Nancy Judd. It examines the many privileges that non-native people have that are often invisible.

Native peoples who have lived in North America for thousands of years cared meticulously for the Earth. Settlers, not so much. In fact, non-Native ideas and attitudes about unlimited wealth and waste have fueled a crisis that affects us all.

The same people who settled and exploited the land have ignored the people who had cared for it and simultaneously benefited through unexamined privilege.

This suit is fashioned after one worn by Nancy’s grandfather, while working as the Treasure of Standard Oil, who profited from some of the many Settler Privileges written between the lines of this suit. These sometimes very subtle benefits are reserved for those who have historically and continue today to benefit from the erasure and land theft of Indigenous people. Examples include the following (we request that you speak them and feel the weight of them):

• I do not worry that when I die my language will die with me;

• I am not confronted with comments that express surprise that my group is still living;

• I am never asked to prove my legitimacy based on government-imposed definitions of “blood quantum” and identity;

• My ethnic group is usually represented in the media and statistical findings.

• Images, symbols, or names of people of my ethnicity are not used as sports mascots, Halloween costumes, or marketing logos.

The Price of Fashion, 2016

Exploring the social and environmental cost of our clothing.

This collection of three garments was created for Eco-Fashion Week in Seattle, WA. Old, ripped, torn, and cast off clothing was deconstructed, cut-up, and resewn together. Nancy’s research for the project included a 5-part blog post that explores the true costs to people and the planet of our clothing.