Renie Breskin Adams
Lunar Effects

Renie Breskin Adams (American, b. 1938)
Lunar Effects 1999
fiber bandage, medicinal cotton, acrylic paint, wood
8 x 11 x 2″
Photo: David H. Ramsey. 2012.7.1

Renie Breskin Adams is known for her crocheted and embroidered artworks. She uses these familiar techniques in novel ways. For example, she has crocheted a three-dimensional teapot. And, she has transformed a found tea towel into a narrative painting.  Adams has also developed a new process called “bandanage“. In short, this involves sculpting or modeling with self-adhesive bandages. The process includes, variably, stuffing the bandages with medicinal cotton, painting, drawing, and embroidering on the surface of the bandage.

Lunar Effects is an example of bandanage. It is a high relief composition presented in a picture frame. Adams has combined two genres of painting: still life and landscape. The tea set in the foreground leaps off the picture plane. The moonlit landscape beyond is alive with running figures. The viewer is pulled in by all these elements.