Mop Portrait (Mamie Eisenhower)
Melissa Dorn
Acrylic on industrial felt
$300
Artist Statement
I knew little to nothing about Mamie Eisenhower prior to creating this portrait. In my research, I found I had her to thank or rather to blame for my “First Lady Pink” bathroom and I now have an idea of just how old that pink wallboard may be. There is a nod to her attraction to pink in the portrait, a fluorescent pink that I believe speaks more aptly to her strength. As an Army wife, relocating often, she had an obsession for cleanliness and order that she brought to the White House. This offered an interesting connection for me and my obsession with industrial mops. Using what I call mop texture I styled her iconic hairstyle, one that she sported most of her life, and was sure to include a strand of pearls.
And while Mamie may be most known for her style, housekeeping abilities and hostessing,she used her strength and resolve strategically throughout her tenure as First Lady and most notably during and after her husband’s heart attack in 1955.
About the Artist
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, 1996
Melissa Dorn (b. 1967, Anchorage, AK) is a Milwaukee artist obsessed with industrial mop heads, feminism, and labor. Her sculpture, paintings, and installations directly and indirectly utilize craft, pulling at threads of her history, midwesterness, and the ordinary. Selected exhibitions: Made in Paint, The Sam & Adele Golden Gallery; Existing in Thought, Scout Gallery; Tension in the Ordinary, James May Gallery; Mobile Home, Var Gallery; The Book Club: What Would We Do With Lynne Tillman, Frank Juarez Gallery; Mopping Up, Frank Juarez Gallery; The Jump Off, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art; Detroit Biennale, Museum of New Art; Wisconsin Artists Biennial, Museum of Wisconsin Art; Preservatif, Stockholm Gallery; Forward 2014, Charles Allis Art Museum; Up, Down!, River Edge Gallery; Schematic, UW-Sheboygan; Eight Counties, John Michael Kohler Arts Center; Art Chicago and Aqua Art Miami, Hotcakes Gallery. Select collections: Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel; Northwestern Mutual; UW Hospital and Clinics.