Resident Alien

Dimensions:  48 x 30 inches

Technique:  Hand dye-painted fabrics, machine-quilted 

Material:  100% cotton fabric, wool/polyester batting

Artist Statement:

When I made Resident Alien in the year 2000, two members of my family were resident aliens. As a young child, I remember a television commercial reminding resident aliens to register at their local post office. This commercial was a cartoon of walking stick figures. Today I assume that using stick figures avoided choosing one specific type of people to represent resident aliens. But as a child, it meant that resident aliens were not real people - they were stick figures.Resident Alien is based upon this childhood misconception along with my adult experiences. For two reasons green became the base color's obvious choice. First, the common belief that all aliens are green - and second, all resident aliens receive a "green" card.

Detail