On View In:
Gallery 280
Artist:   Erica Spitzer Rasmussen  
Title:   Coat of Invocation  
Date:   2011  
Medium:   Mixed media with handmade paper (mulberry fibers, commercial envelopes, cotton thread, matte medium, acrylics, Rit® dye, Japanese green tea)  
Dimensions:   31 x 45 1/4 x 1 1/2 in. (78.74 x 114.94 x 3.81 cm)  
Credit Line:   Anonymous gift  
Location:   Gallery 280  

Coat of Invocation demonstrates the artist's interest in the protective powers of skillfully made garments that incorporate unconventional materials. In this case, she has constructed a coat intended to be worn by a loved one negotiating cancer. She created the piece out of commercially made envelopes, which she dyed, stained and painted. The style of the coat follows the pattern of a Japanese happi coat, and the artist also draws on the Shinto tradition of making written requests to a higher power, as each envelope contains a wish for the relative's recovery. The soft golden and brown tones of the coat's exterior, combined with the red interior, give a sense of warmth and bodily presence to the coat, calling to mind the person for which it was made.

Artist/Creator(s)     
Name:   Rasmussen, Erica Spitzer  
Life Dates:   American, born 1968  
 

Object Description  
  
Inscriptions:    
Classification:   Textiles  
Physical Description:   open coat covered with small envelopes on all outer surfaces; yellow placket with dark red paper lining  
Creation Place:   North America, United States, , ,  
Accession #:   2013.7  
Owner:   The Minneapolis Institute of Arts