judy dominic

gut

Gut - sausage casing / intestine - is a wonderfully versatile material. Used by the Eskimo peoples to make water repellant coats and pants, gut can be used like cordage and like sheets of material.

Most of the gut work that Judy creates is made with pork; somtimes lamb is used for the smaller diameter. The work is both 3-D and 2-D and mostly sculptural.

When stretched as flat pieces, the gut is typically layered to create a sturdy surface. When left whole, the gut dries on itself to create a solid, strong thin string-like material. Due to the nature of the material, the gut is worked fresh and wet. Once dried it can be softened, but it will never return to its initial, supple state.

Smaller grids installed in a bedroom, August 2008.

Larger gut grids installed at the Harrison branch Public Library, June 2008.

Check out some of the gut pieces that were exhibited in Denver, 2004.

The Deeper You Look: gut sheets, birch bark sheets, branch.

Quilted gut sample: gut sheets, thread, scraps of natural dyed cloth and mud cloth.

Knitted gut turns out nicely - have to work on my evenness in knitting!

Layers of gut inside and out; willow twined first to hold it in place.