Issue 10
Women in Art
By Sara Jane SlukePhotos By Morgan Slade
Adele Mildred
Adele Mildred’s art is quietly comforting, harkening back to a simpler time, to antiquated picture books and the loveliest of fairy tales. Until you look closer. And longer. And a chill shivers the spine—not necessarily brought on by fear, more from a sense of general unease. The animals are often dead, dying, or planning to wreak havoc. Ladies and little girls are lovely, but sorrowful. Despite the sadness, it is difficult to look away.
A lonely childhood shaped Mildred. She grew up in a small suburb of Minneapolis, but spent much time in France, where her mother is from. Mildred’s French background made her feel special, but always drastically different from her childhood peers in the heartland. Mildred says she was “very quiet and withdrawn, timid and deathly afraid of strangers.” She spent time alone with her imagination, developing her unique visual sense, and preparing for a bigger, better life outside of the one that had been thrust on her. “I was most certainly the little child that always wanted to be an artist. When I got a bit older, I began to realize that ‘starving artist’ was not the glamorous life I had in mind, so I turned towards fashion. Most recently—the last couple years—I began to realize that fashion was not the glamorous life I had in mind, so I turned back towards art.”
Mildred studied fashion in New York, Seattle and San Francisco before moving to L.A. Five years ago. She has designed clothing and done costuming for independent films and art photography shoots, and has designed costumes for Liz McGrath to wear on stage with her band Miss Derringer. She has also found a new obsession in hat making, and for Mildred, the devil is in the details. “It’s my current love. I’ve always [been drawn] to fashion, history, and lost arts. Embroidery is a dwindling one, and so is millinery. I work small and detailed, so hat making and I make a good match. I’ve only been doing it a year, but so far I adore it and have been getting pretty good reviews. I’d like to start a small collection and start showing them next year. Like art, millinery is a process, and you cannot churn the product out.”
Grandville, John R. Neil, Aubrey Beardsley, Arthur Rackham and Beatrix Potter are strong influences on Mildred’s work. She is a woman who embraces the subtle, the controlled and the feminine. “Gone are the days of the red rose girls, where you had to choose a career in art or be a wife and mother—god forbid you should try both! I like to think the ladies help each other out. Granted, this isn’t suffrage or anything, and we aren’t burning our bras, but there is definitely a ‘sisterhood’ among female artists.” Recently, Mildred showed at the Styrchnin Gallery in Berlin with Liz McGrath, and is working on new pieces for several upcoming shows.
Mildred finds the “lowbrow” label a bit of an albatross. She exclaims, “I hate it! The name ‘lowbrow,’ it even sounds like an insult, right? But it’s the reason I was able to start showing, and still do. Some people might call my art ‘lowbrow,’ I suppose. I see it though, as a remembrance to an old craft. I take pride in being self-taught; I take pride in being a lady. If that makes me lowbrow, then be it—and I’ll be proud of that too, then.”
www.adelemildred.com
Camille Rose Garcia
Seonna Hong
Liz McGrath
Adele Mildred