MFA PROJECT REPORT
Keela Dee Dooley
MFA Metalsmithing & Jewelry
Spring 2019
Trappings
Oak Street Gallery
Denton, Texas
April 17-20, 2019
Supervisory Committee Chair:
James Thurman, Associate Professor
Supervisory Committee Members:
Ana Lopez, Associate Professor
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My thesis committee: James Thurman (chair) and Ana Lopez
UNT Metalsmithing & Jewelry
• Harlan Butt
• Umut Demirgüç Thurman
• Sarah Loch-Test
• The Coven
UNT Sculpture
• Alicia Eggert
• Ana Esteve Llorens
• Richard Davis
• Jeff McClung
UNT FabLab & IT
• Shawn Lopez
• Fab Lab family
• IT Team
UNT CVAD Faculty and Staff
UNT MFA Graduate Students
Triad Product Finishing Inc.
Fulton Metal Supply
Brandon Coal Taylor
Hudson Ingram, UNT Photo
Alison Pack, Radford University Metalsmithing & Jewelry Professor
Lucia Torres, Grandma Lucy
My mother and father: Sally Dee DiRico and James Danny Dooley
My fur-babies: Buster Lee, Bella Dee, Opie & Otis
In Memory of: Chris DiRico, Joyce DiRico, Henry Davis, Andre Motley, Bobby Lee Winkle
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I am from the New River Valley of Virginia, located in the Blue Ridge and Appalachian
Mountains where southern culture has gender expectations, stereotypes, and misconceptions.
Working in what is considered a “man’s world” I challenge the expected role of a young woman
by being skilled in a traditionally male dominated field, ferrous metalsmithing, and referencing
the traditionally male dominated practice of hunting.
The exhibition Trappings is based on the character Dee, a huntress, and her
vanity/hunting trophy room, which exhibits the duality of being feminine while utilizing
masculine skills and traits.
Narrative:
From the beginning, Dee’s mother tried to protect her from the harsh reality of
today’s world “trapping” her inside by planting barbed rose bushes outside her windows.
Eager to explore the world, Dee escaped her mother’s Rose Fortress. She quickly learned
her mother’s intentions to protect her were not baseless, once she experienced the terror
of the Hunters.
Dee became a Huntress, who used her knowledge of metalwork and hunting to
empower women to break limitations set by society. She creates weapons and tactical
wearables to protect the wearer from those who would hunt women. Like hunting
wildlife, these Hunters track and stalk women as prey and have cruel intentions such as
sexual assault, and murder for pride and pleasure. Dee turns the tables and uses
seduction as bait to trap the Hunters, a modern-day femme fatal.
Once Dee experienced being prey of these Hunters herself, she felt broken and
weak. Trying to pick up the pieces, she remembered the quote by Sylvia Plath stating,
“Out of the ash, I rise with my red hair, And I eat men like air.” Out of the trauma, Dee
resurrected as a strong woman ready to trap the Hunters. Like a stereotypical hunting
“man cave”, in her vanity room you will find her weapons, trophy mounts, and tactical
wearables ready for any attack. Outside of Dee’s house you will find her trap collection
and field cam surveillance. Prepared for battle, Dee is ready to end the reign of terror of
the Hunters and bring a new era of safety and freedom for all women.
I was raised by a single mother who worked in the male dominated field of Drafting
while also teaching at a technical school. She taught me that women could choose any career
path, despite society’s expectations. Her professional journey came with several sexual
discrimination cases. Seeing my mother fight for her right of equality in the workplace inspired
me to pursue a career in the male dominated field of metal fabrication.
My mother also inspired me to always be cautious of my surroundings and protect
myself. Even as a little girl, I remember my mother planting rose bushes outside my bedroom
windows to “keep me from sneaking out, or boys sneaking in.” As a young girl I felt like a
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princess trapped in a tower with my overprotective mother. However now as a grown woman I
thank her for preparing me for the harsh reality of today’s world.
Personal experiences of sexual discrimination, harassment, and assault are factors that
inspire me to create tactical wearables. In the South, women are expected to have “feminine”
roles such as motherhood, housewife or caretaker. Because my mother taught me I could do
anything a man could, I often found myself challenging society’s expectations, first through
hunting and then through becoming a metalsmith. The men in my family would not teach me
how to hunt because the women in the family usually stayed home and cooked. This drove me
to learn on my own with the help of a friend. Once I became successful at hunting, I felt even
more independent knowing how to provide food and protect myself.
Feeling “trapped” by these expectations, I began to collect steel hunting traps to use as
a motif in my work conveying my feelings and my interest in hunting weapons. I found these
traps at antique stores, eBay, my grandmother’s house, and some were given as gifts. I wanted
to create an instillation with these found traps (Image 1) to create and overwhelming presence
of control and the feeling of loss. These traps have been used to kill and harm animals, either
for food, protection or greed. Like a hunter’s cabin, Dee keeps her trap collection outside
waiting for the next hunt. Instead of using these traps on animals, they are now used on men
who prey women.
Image 1 Trappings
Found Traps Variable sizes
2019
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My collection of found traps led me to create my own. Baby Trap (Image 2) is a small
double spring trap brooch with a rose as the trigger pad. Using the intimidation factor of large
traps with teeth, I designed Baby Trap to be small and precious with the material sterling silver.
I have always enjoyed celebrating my femininity while challenging masculine
expectations. In my metalworks, you will find roses, lace patterns, and hearts contrasted with
concept, hard metal, and related processes. My choker, The Catch (Image 3), is inspired by the
chain and catch that is attached to steel traps to keep the animal from running away. This
choker symbolizes the woman is no longer held by the trap, instead now she is the trap.
Delicate roses and petals with lace print invite the viewer to come closer, however the spikes
act as almost barbed wire to prevent touching.
Image 3 The Catch
Sterling Silver and Steel 8” x 8” x 2”
2017
Image 2 Baby Trap
Sterling Silver 1” x 3” x 1”
2017
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Breaking the boundaries of industrial equipment and material, I create elegant yet
intimidating wearable sculptures out of steel with the CNC Plasma Cutter (Image 4). Plasma
cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an
accelerated jet of hot plasma. CNC (Computer Numerical Control) plasma cutter is controlled by
a computer guiding a gantry directing the cutting head along the material. This allows me to
achieve precise shapes, repeating patterns, and intricate designs.
My work also involves CNC Routing and Laser Cutting/Etching. I used MDF and pine to
create my displays, vanity (Image 5 & 6) and head mounts with the Shopbot CNC Router. This a
computer-controlled machine that cuts material with carving bits and tools.
Image 4 Torchmate Growthseries, CNC Plasma Cutter
UNT FabLab 2018
Image 5 ShopBot CNC Router
MDF Vanity In Progress 2019
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Image 6 Vanity
MDF and Primer Vanity: 52.5” x 48” x 20.5”
Stool: 24” x 16” x 19.5” 2019
Image 7 Vanity Room Installation
Oak Street Gallery 2019
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Being a Barbie girl, I always dreamed of having a beautiful bedroom like hers, specifically
with The Suzy Goose Barbie Vanity (Image 8.) I learned a lot about becoming a woman through
my passion of barbies growing up. Some believe Barbie’s unrealistic figure and beauty pushed
stereotypes of women onto young girls, however my experience with Barbie was far from that.
To me, Barbie has always represented an independent woman who has choices. With each
costume change, Barbie reinvented herself into a new career or lifestyle.
Wanting to create a vanity of my own, I wasn’t sure where to begin. I researched more
vanities and went to museums. Impressed by the amount of silver, “whiplash lines and floral
motifs characteristic of Art Nouveau”1, and immaculate metalsmithing craftsmanship, I fell in
love with the Silver Martelé dressing table and stool (Image 9) at the Dallas Museum of Arts.
Combining the styles of the Suzy Goose and Martelé vanities, I designed an upscaled dollhouse
vanity and stool (Image 6.) The joints are tabs, like wooden dollhouse furniture. I painted it solid
white to give a feeling of memory and innocence, this can be seen throughout the exhibition
with the mounts and displays. The vanity and stool sit on a white faux fur rug and the stool has
a fur cushion. The fur comments on the previous use of the steel traps during the fur trade.
1 “Martelé Dressing Table and Stool.” DMA Collection Online, 2017, collections.dma.org/artwork/5323310.
Image 8 Suzy Goose Barbie Vanity
1963
Image 9 Martelé dressing table and stool
Gorham Manufacturing Company 1899
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With my background of metalsmithing and jewelry, I also use hand fabrication
techniques to create oversized jewelry-inspired linked forms that have movement and an
inherent duality. Empowering women to protect themselves while embracing their femininity.
Heart Trap Chain (Image 10 & 11) and Rose Trap Chain (Image 12 & 13) were both created with
the CNC plasma cutter, formed by hand, then connected with interlocking links. The Heart Trap
symbolizes the duality of being loving and fierce. The heart shape contains trap teeth, inspired
by steel hunting traps, protecting the heart. I put it in a trap environment to rust like an old
steel trap. Scale and repetition emphasize power and control when on the body.
Image 10 Heart Trap Chain Mild Steel & Rust 90 in x 30 in x 6 in
2018
Image 11 Heart Trap Chain, Detail
Mild Steel & Rust 2018
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I began to create extensions of the body through wearables with my first CNC plasma
cut prototypes Booby Trap (Image 14) and Head Trap (Image 15.) Booby Trap imitates lingerie
in a bra and panty like form, while having trap teeth protecting the wearer. Society’s
expectations that women should be sexy and submissive are challenged in this piece being
Image 12 Rose Trap Chain
Mild Steel 96” x 36” x 12”
2019
Image 13 Rose Trap Chain, Detail
Mild Steel 2019
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seductive yet intimidating. I designed this piece thinking about a sexual assault case I
experienced. Had I been wearing this set, I would have been protected.
These pieces were inspired by Rebecca Horn, German Sculptor, Filmmaker and
Performance Artist.2 Her works Unicorn (Image 16) and Pencil Mask (Image 17) inspired me to
make traps for the body.
2 Hope, Claire. “Rebecca Horn Art, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story, 2019, www.theartstory.org/artist-horn-rebecca.htm.
Image 14 Booby Trap
Mild Steel and Sterling silver Top: 8” x 13” 12”
Bottom: 12” x 12.5” x 8” 2017
Image 15 Head Trap Mild Steel
18” x 12” x 10” 2017
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After I developed my Head Trap prototype that was inspired by the Muskrat Live Trap
(Image 18), I completed a new version that sits on the wearer’s shoulders and is accompanied
by wood Head Mounts (Image 19.) When on the body, Head Trap can be used to protect the
wearer or decapitate the heads of Dee’s victims that are later mounted like taxidermy deer
mounts. Using traditional mount shapes, Dee’s “trophy wall” suggests she is waiting on her next
kill.
Image 16 Rebecca Horn
Unicorn Wood, Fabric & Metal
1970-2
Image 17 Rebecca Horn Pencil Mask
Fabric, Pencils & Metal 1972
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Ellen Durkan is a metalsmith who combines fashion and the art of blacksmithing. She
creates metal gates for the body, known as “Forged Fashion.”3 Her process of creating wearable
sculptures (Image 20) helped me design Booby Trap Corset (Image 21) and Thorn Train Trap
3 Durkan, Ellen. “About Me.” Ellen Durkan, www.ellendurkan.com/about-me.html.
Image 18 Muskrat live trap
Steel
Image 19 Head Trap & Head Mounts
Mild Steel and Pine 2019
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(Image 22.) The corset acts as a trap and or armor for the body, while containing the “bait” that
lures in the predator.
While on the body, the thorn chain creates a necklace in the front then continues down
the spine on to the floor. The sharp spike links were inspired by wolf hunting collars, used to
protect hunting dogs from being attacked. This thorn outfit is also inspired by corsets and the
long trains of a dresses. I have often fought with my family and peers about the expectation of
getting married. This set was intended to make the wearer not approachable and detract the
pressure from imposed opinions, however it does the opposite by drawing in attention and
curiosity by the viewer opening the discussion if this is a wedding train or a dress of power. The
thorns of the corset and train reference the rose bush planted as protection in front of Dee’s
window. The rose bush became part of the body when Dee left her home. This is a metaphor
for my own personal experience of leaving home.
Image 20 Forged Fashion
Ellen Durkan
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Image 21 Booby Trap Corset
40” x 15” x 8” Mild Steel Powder Coated
2019
Image 22 Thorn Train Trap 96" x 24" x 60"
Mild Steel Powder Coated 2019
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After visiting the Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion exhibition in March 2017 at the
Dallas Museum of Art (Image 23), I decided I wanted to create sculptural fashion. Her elaborate
designs and structures involved fashion, design, technology, and science. Research and
prototyping are essential in the digital fabrication process. Iris van Herpen experiments by
altering 3D printing and traditional fabric processes by manipulating the material far beyond its
expected limitations4. Moving forward, I am looking to expanding the scope into the fashion
world like Iris van Herpen and Ellen Durkan, while creating performative aspects with objects
serving as bodily extensions inspired by Rebecca Horn. In my sculptures I would like to increase
the scale making human size hunting traps and explore the concept of various traps in life. My
creative process will involve ongoing research of various materials and digital fabrication,
among developing more installations.
4 “Iris Van Herpen: Transforming Fashion.” Dallas Museum of Art, Hoffman Galleries, 21 May 2017, www.dma.org/art/exhibitions/iris-van-herpen-transforming-fashion.
Image 19 Thorn Train Trap 96" x 24" x 60"
Mild Steel Powder Coated 2019
Image 23 Iris van Herpen: Transforming Fashion exhibition
Dallas Museum of Art 2017