Combinations, Crinolines & Clothleslines: unfamiliar paintings of an unknown era

The Almonte Knitting Company was founded by Bennett Rosamond in 1882. Located off Mary Street, it was known as the Red Mill because it was built of wood and painted red. Knitted underwear, including combinations and long johns, were manufactured at the Red Mill, which closed in the early 1930s. The building was demolished about 1934. (Artist's note: this painting isn't quite finished.)

In 1860, "the ugly fashion of Hoops or Crinoline" was declared unfit for work in factories. A strict dress code against crinolines was enforced, yet women and girls often still wore them. Wearing these fashions was dangerous: the Carleton Place Herald reported in 1871 that a woman in a hoop skirt was pulled into the revolving shaft of the water wheel in a Pakenham mill and "dashed to a thousand pieces." (Artist's note: this painting isn't quite finished.)

I think I'll go with this new title (title of this blog post) for my upcoming exhibition at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum (MVTM) in Almonte, Ontario, which runs from June 4 to August 3, 2013. What do you think?

​Short description of the show:

In Combinations, Crinolines & Clotheslines, the artist's interests in the tools, machines, scenes and local stories from the booming era of textile manufacturing in Almonte, Ontario, is evident alongside her abiding attraction to clothes, textiles and patterns of various kinds. Combinations, Crinolines & Clotheslines will in part illustrate mill life and key artifacts, and in part re-imagine unknown or nearly forgotten stories from the fabric of an Ottawa Valley mill town.