Wearable Vermeers

A wearable art series inspired by the solitary female figures in the work of Johannes Vermeer by Kasey Smith

A companion series to the Pixelated Pearl Vermeers, these wearable art pieces were inspired by the same subset of Vermeer paintings — those featuring solitary female figures and colloquially referred to as his “pearl pictures.” So while pearls are much less prominent in this series, they were still the initial germ of inspiration, both conceptually, thematically, and materially,

More lighthearted than the Pixelated Pearl Vermeers, the Wearable Vermeers are an ode to femininity and functionality as told through various class-based and gender-based objects of adornment.

The Crog (A Maid Asleep)

The most humorous piece in the series, The Crog features a simple wooden clog carved into the shape of a Croc and decorated with elements taken from the Vermeer painting A Maid Alseep. Crocs are fairly lowbrow fashion, strongly associated with poverty, labor, children and the lower classes. Essentially, the same types of people who would have worked as maids in Vermeer’s time. By using a wooden clog as the sculptural base, I am therefore creating a modern “update” to the shoes his subject might have worn in the 17th century Netherlands.

To further connect this piece to the original Vermeer, it was decorated with items depicted in the painting. The Persian rug on the table inspired the geometric paint-job, and the various food and cutlery items surrounding the maid inspired the miniature charms (known as jibbitz) adorning the Crog.

Pearl Necklaces (Woman With A Pearl Necklace)

These two necklaces represent a fairly straightforward homage to the Vermeer painting Woman With A Pearl Necklace. Made using dyed freshwater pearls and blown glass beads, they reimagine the form and aesthetic of the pearl necklace using elements taken from the original Vermeer painting.

Persian Rug Necklaces (Woman With A Water Jug)

Folded and crumpled Persian rugs feature across a wide swath of Vermeer paintings. But, in my opinion, the rug in Woman With A Water Jug represents the pinnacle of Vermeer’s rug-painting craft. So for this wearable I wanted to focus on the beauty of rugs — the color, the texture, the intricacy of the pattern, the skill involved in their creation. I have a small collection of antique cigarette premiums, including miniature rugs put out by Zebulda Cigarettes in the 1910’s. I took some of the duplicates and encased them in resin, adding pearls and dollhouse water jugs to connect the necklaces back to the original Vermeer painting.

Battle Jacket (Woman Reading A Letter At An Open Window)

Made using a combination of found and handmade embroideries, this piece references the patch jackets worn by punks and metalheads. I find battle jackets fascinating for two reasons. The first, because they’re a male gendered craft and one of the few socially acceptable fashion/clothing crafts available to men. And second, because of how they function as status symbols and communicate taste within the scene. For this piece I took Vermeer’s Woman Reading A Letter At An Open Window and broke it down into its individual elements — the window, the curtain, the table and chair, the art on the wall, and of course the woman herself. I then embellished these elements using traditionally feminine crafts like embroidery and beadwork to make distinct textile art pieces which I united together onto the denim jacket.

Acrylic Nails (Woman With A Balance)

I wanted to make a wearable art piece that functioned as an appendage or extension of the body. Something with more permanence than an article of clothing or jewelry, both of which can be shed at a moments notice. Not committed enough to get pierced or tattooed for my art (yet), I thought I would play with the artform of intricate acrylic nails instead. So for this piece I took some of the major elements to Vermeer’s painting Woman With A Balance and worked them into this nailset. There is the woman herself, her hand with the balance, the coins and pearls she is weighing, the blue of her robes, and the yellow of the curtains.

Phone Case (The Lacemaker)

Within an otherwise serious body of work about immigration/integration, this sub-series is an outlet for whimsy. A way to insert experimentation, cleverness, and craft into my studies of Johannes Vermeer’s paintings. For The Lacemaker, I decided to channel the subject of the painting (bobbin lacemaking) and the aesthetic of kawaii cellphone cases to create a custom case for my Pixel 7 Pro phone. Between the straight pins and the hanging bobbins this case is far from functional. It won’t fit well in your pocket, your purse, or in your hand. But here is the rub — a phone you can’t pick up is a phone you can’t drop and break. So perhaps “functional” and “nonfunctional” are more flexible categories than we give them credit for.