For Dovetail Dreams Museum of True History [MOTH] has invited Round Two
(Stephanie Chalmers & Emily Rumney) to recreate the brave domestic
contrivances of 1940s cabinetmaker and former milliner Agnes Dean.
At a time when women were being
encouraged to join the war efforts in areas previously only considered the
domain of men, Dean embraced her new woodworking and carpentry skills and
demonstrated a unique flair for design.
Following the war Dean relocated
to New Zealand. She opened her own back shed studio where she created one-off
furniture designs for friends, family alongside a surprisingly wealthy client
list. She developed a successful business that grew largely through word of
mouth.
What few of her clients knew was
that Dean also had a secret passion for the avant-garde and would fashion
curiously functionless prototypes. While no one ever saw these objects, Dean
often referred to them in conversation with her close friends as her dalliances
– small gestures with no purpose but to amuse her.
Round Two have chosen to interpret
Dean’s ‘daliances’ as their starting point. Using the vernacular of
cabinet-making they have created a collection of items they are sure Dean would
have embraced as her own.
Dovetail Dreams was on display from 25-27 September 2015