Using wooden kitchen tools, tarpaper, ticking, corn shucks, apples, and techniques of whittling, carving, sewing and video, I, for many years, made work referencing the culture of Appalachia with a focus on its women. Art works comprise sculpture, prints and drawings, dolls, photographs, and installation-based works.
Ritual (Foot washing) video still (from the exhibition Blurring Racial Barriers), 2006, see more under Archive 3: Community Projects
A Virtuous Woman V (Her Candle Goeth Not Out By Night), size, 64 embroidered potholders, fabric silhouettes, wooden hanger with brass hooks, 2003/2023
Staged self-portrait, digitally manipulated, wearing the New Testament Dress, 11" x 17", also reproduced as life-size banner, 2003, Private Collection
Mock-up for the New Testament Dress triptych with Sunday School Lesson, as installed at the Van Every Smith Gallery at Davidson College, 2003.
Staged self-portrait, digitally manipulated, in the New Testament Dress, 11" x 17", also reproduced as life-size banner, 2003, Private Collection
Staged self-portrait, digitally manipulated, in the New Testament Dress, 11" x 17", also reproduced as life-size banner, 2003, Private Collection
The Virtuous Woman 2, variable size, stamped on each wooden cross are the words: SHE EAT ETH NOT THE BREAD OF IDLE NESS, 2002
The Virtuous Woman 3, pegged and whittled wooden letters, 12-15" high, installation varies, 2002
Sunday School Lesson, faux leather, gilded text, wood. Size variable, 2000
Sunday School Lesson, detail
(L-R) Maiden/Crone, Trinity, Dolly's Dress, Fertility Dress, 2001
Corn Goddess 1, 2001, corn shucks, thread, string, paint
Life/Death Doll, fabric, embroidery, 2002, Private Collection
The Virtuous Woman, wood and tarpaper, scorched cutting board, Text stamped on wooden spoons is SHE EAT ETH NOT THE BREAD OF IDLE NESS, 2000
The Virtuous Woman detail
Burden, tarpaper, staples, graphite, wood, graphite text (from the Christian New Testament regarding the sublimation of women). Variable height, approx. 5-6', 2003
Burden details, tarpaper, staples, graphite, wood, graphite text (from the Christian New Testament regarding the sublimation of women). Variable height, approx. 5-6', 2003
Ancestors, tarpaper, wood, carved apple heads, string, graphite text, variable size, 2000
Dreamer, antique ticking, horsehair, down, 2017 Learn more here: https://www.transformativehealingdolls.com/blog/terri-dowell-dennis-flip-dolls-material-meaning-appalachian-craft-and-foundational-stories
Persephone, fabric, leather, human hair, wheat, ribbon, thread, 2017
Installation view, Topsy-Turvy Dolls, Taubman Museum of Art, 2009
Kali/Medusa, fabric, embroidery, faux leather, fiberfill, 2004, Private Collection
Life/Death Doll 2, fabric, embroidery, ribbon, fiberfill, 2004
By The Signs, fabric, antique textiles, embroidery, fiberfill, 2004, Private Collection
Topsy Turvy 1, conjoined hearts, fabric, embroidery, black linen thread, 2000
Crows and Crosses, wood, 1997
Daphne, carved wood, cherry bark, mica, tacks, constructed pedestal, 1997
Daphne, detail
Tree Spirit, carved wood, 1996
Storm Table, wood, copper, 1990-1994
Crow Totem, wood, tarpaper, tacks, straw, 1990-1994
Crow Totem, detail