Wierix, Johan (1549-1618)
Melancholia
after Dürer, Albrecht (1471-1528)
engraving

Beham, Hans Sebald (1500-1550)
Armorials of the Artist
engraving
1544

Beham, Hans Sebald (1500-1550)
Armorials with a Lion
engraving
1544

Mellan, Claude (1598-1688)
The Sudarium of St. Veronica
engraving

Cranach, Lucas the elder (1472-1553)
Pilate Washing His Hands
woodcut

Cranach, Lucas the elder (1472-1553)
The Entombment
woodcut

For this project I have been fabricating a series of tactile objects in response to specific prints in the collection. These are primarily spiritual in content, or refer to protection, self-defense, comfort, safety, consolation or mourning.  These prints include Cranach’s Stations of the Cross, Flaxman’s Religion Comforting the Mourner and Wierix’s Melancholia *after *Dürer.

The objects tend to have a paradoxical quality, for example:  soft armour to be worn as comfortably as a regular garment; a flimsy embroidered shield; a soft and gentle crown of thorns made from felt; a cosy, padded helmet fitted with faux-fur blinkers and ear defenders, a 'happy hat' to worn by Melancholia, in an effort to lift her spirits...

These ideas have in part been driven by the passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians: *Exhortations for Spiritual Warfare (6:10-17)*

Kate Keara Pelen
Final Year, MFA Fine Art Media