Threading the past into the present, fabric has permeated through every civilization as a vehicle of creative expression. Stroke by stroke, painter Andrea Higgins applies her brushmarks to emulate the stitch-by-stitch patterns of fabric swatches, creating dynamic abstractions in her compositions. The Spark episode “Threads” zooms into Higgins’s current series of oil paintings, “The Presidents’ Wives,” which explore the relationship between women, fashion and power through visual abstractions based on the wardrobes of America’s first ladies.
Formally trained as a painter, Higgins gravitated towards textiles in childhood when her grandmother took her shopping at Britex Fabrics in San Francisco. Fascination transformed into dedication when Higgins visited Indonesia in 1995 and observed how Hindu women weaved extravagantly intricate sarongs under rudimentary environments. This inspired Higgins to approach a refined technique in her own artworks: finely-woven, geometric-intricate patterns painting on canvas requiring countless studio hours exacting repetitive brushstrokes.
Beyond their crafted abilities, Higgins was struck by the amount of time that these Hindu women spent aestheticizing their clothes prior to temple ceremonies, in hopes of luring gods’ attention. Upon returning to the United States, Higgins correlated this type of “power dressing” to that of American first ladies in personifying a certain public image.
According to Higgins, the clothes and the colors a first lady wears represent the social, economical, and political climate of the incumbent administration. For instance, her painting “Laura” references Laura Bush’s purple tweed suit reflecting a growing nostalgia for a simpler America under the Bush’s administration. In contrast, Hillary Clinton’s signature black pantsuits point to a country getting “down to business.” In another era, Higgins’s painting “Nancy” highlights Nancy Reagan’s flamboyant red epitomizes the extravagance under the ebullient trickle-down economics of the 1980s.
Higgins holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. She is one of four recipients of the 2002 SECA Art Award for emerging artists from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Her work has been exhibited at SFMOMA and venues throughout the United States and Asia.
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