%0 Journal Article
%T Myrllen's Coat
%A Catherine Heard
%J The Brock Review
%D 2009
%I 
%X In 1948, a schizophrenic woman admitted to the Eastern State Hospital in Knoxville, Tennessee, began shredding rags into coloured thread and begging hospital staff to give her a sewing needle. In the space of seven years, she created several garments, densely embroidered with images and glossolalic text. Ward notes dismissively summarized, ˇ°She sews without purposeˇ­is non-productiveˇ±. In 1955 she was medicated with the newly developed drug, chlorpromazine, and stopped sewing. Over the years, most of the works were lost ¨C¨C along with the medical records of their creator, who is known by the pseudonym, ˇ°Myrllenˇ±. Today, only two artifacts remain: a scarf, which hangs in Lakeshore Mental Health Center in Knoxville; and a coat, preserved in the Tennessee State Museum. My research is the first academic study of these artifacts, which are virtually unknown outside of Tennessee and Maryland.
%K Visual Art
%K Craft
%K embroidery
%K Outsider Art
%K Art by the Insane
%K Asylum art
%U http://www.brocku.ca/brockreview/index.php/brockreview/article/view/89/57