Button Series

November 2024

Scripps College, Claremont CA

This piece explores the transformation of a lost button as an absence on the garment it helps to keep together. A normal button is so small that once it has fallen off a garment, it feels almost impossible to find. By enlarging the button in my castings, they are more visible, yet the comical size, crumbling material, and warped nature, make them void of the original functionality. My concrete and plaster reproductions shift the original function of a button as a relatively unnoticeable fastener, to an exaggerated representation of material weight and permanence. To warp my original mold, I clamped the center of the mold to push the material away from the center. The first iteration was done with concrete that I mixed bits of fabric into. A theme that I often like to think about in my work is the contrast between hard and soft materials. The fabric in the concrete peeks out through the edges and hints at the button’s original context, now encased and immobilized within the object. The shape, distorted from the center, removes the typical symmetry of a button. The second iteration utilized the same clamping technique now with plaster. The plaster, being a thinner mixture than concrete, was unable to reach the center of the mold entirely. This casting is one of my favorites because of how fragile and in movement the form looks. With no separation of holes, the casting is even more useless as a button, and is only able to serve as a fragment of the already lost button that it symbolizes. My manipulated digital scan features the addition of legs and buttonholes that only reach halfway through. The context is further disrupted as the button becomes more reminiscent of a sculptural form or furniture piece than a sewing notion. When displayed alongside the unaltered button casts, it is recognizable as an iteration of the object, yet when stood alone, it may be interpreted as an ashtray, an incense holder, a dish, or even a table. I chose to display my many versions of the button on the ground where they blended into the environment visually, but were generally easy to find. In between each rail is one object. In addition to my castings, I included the original button, my 3D prints, and my flat bottomed relief of a button. Although the casted objects are quite visible, the original button is easy to miss, which emphasizes the idea of its loss.