Collections: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five, Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail for Defending Life on Earth

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Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five, Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail for Defending Life on Earth

Ellen Lesperance creates knitting patterns based on examples of sweaters she finds in archival photographs of female activists, and then uses these pattern paintings as guides for her hand-knit “historic” sweaters. The neatly lettered title on this painting links it to direct action and political resistance, tracing the radical history of women imprisoned for spearheading antinuclear encampments in the 1980s. Displayed together, Lesperance’s painting and sweater engage this activist history, literally and metaphorically offering a pattern for a new generation.

Artist: Ellen Lesperance, American, born 1971
Medium: Wool sweater hand knit by the artist, and gouache and graphite on tea stained paper
Dates: 2011
Dimensions: Gouache - Sheet (a): 21 1/2 x 29 in. (54.6 x 73.7 cm) Gouache - Frame (a): 27 x 34 1/2 in. (68.6 x 87.6 cm) (Framed with Glass) Sweater (b): Dimensions Variable Shelf (c): 6 x 14 x 17 1/4 in. (15.2 x 35.6 x 43.8 cm) (show scale)
Collections:Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art
Museum Location: This item is not on view
Accession Number: 2012.18a-c
Credit Line: Purchase gift of Jill and Jay Bernstein
Rights Statement: © Ellen Lesperance
The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here.

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Caption: Ellen Lesperance (American, born 1971). Cardigan Worn by One Woman of the Boeing Five, Tried for Entering the Boeing Nuclear Missile Plant on September 27th, 1983, Sentenced to Fifteen Days in the King County Jail for Defending Life on Earth, 2011. Wool sweater hand knit by the artist, and gouache and graphite on tea stained paper, Gouache - Sheet (a): 21 1/2 x 29 in. (54.6 x 73.7 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Purchase gift of Jill and Jay Bernstein, 2012.18a-c. © Ellen Lesperance
Image: overall, CUR.2012.18a-c_Ambach_Rice_photograph_Boeing_sweater.jpg. Image courtesy of Ambach & Rice, Los Angeles
"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don't yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

Record Completeness: Good (60%)
Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Female artist [x]		Wool [x]
American [x]		Textile [x]
Contemporary [x]		textiles [x]
sweater [x]		paper [x]
cardigan [x]		politics [x]
knit [x]		political [x]
gouache [x]		graphite [x]
Ellen Lesperance [x]		Lesperance [x]
shirt [x]

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nelson.egyptology (5)
- Contemporary
- Textile
- American
- Wool
- Female artist
jesslucci (14)
- Ellen Lesperance
- Lesperance
- political
- politics
- paper
- graphite
- gouache
- knit
- wool
- cardigan
- American
- sweater
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zppinto (1)
- shirt

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