A Collection of Didactic Decorative Objects by Annie Coggan
The maps on the upholstery illustrate the military movements of General Ulysses S. Grant during the Mississippi Campaigns. This project was supported through an Artist Incentive Grant provided by the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. The furniture resides in the Grant collection reading room at Mississippi State University. Grant’s Military Movements Loveseat2009 Embroidered linen upholstered chair
The maps on the upholstery illustrate the military movements of General Ulysses S. Grant during the Mississippi Campaign’s. This project has been supported through an Artist Incentive Grant provided by the College of Architecture, Art, and Design at Mississippi State University. The furniture resides in the Grant collection reading room at Mississippi State University.
Vicksburg Chair-2009 Embroidered linen upholstered chair
This chair maps William Faulkner’s beloved homestead Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi. The map illustrates the original garden plan and the front walk way of coleus plants that line the path. Faulkner’s Homestead chair-2008 Embroidered linen on upholstered chair
A Loveseat that maps Marie Antoinette’s gardens at Le Petit Trianon. Marie Antoinette’s Garden seat-2008 Embroidered linen on upholstered chair Exhibited at the Ole Miss Motel-2010
A chair that pays homage to Eudora Welty mother’s Jackson Mississippi flower garden. The seat is an embroidered plan of the garden and the remainder of the chair is an expression of the garden in full force. Mrs. Welty’s garden chair-2009 Embroidered linen on upholstered chair
The Freedom Chair was an endeavor initiated by the Mississippi Historic Trust. I was asked to develop a piece of work that illustrated the history and plight of the Fielder and Brooks Drug Store in Meridian Mississippi. This place is an endangered structure and its place in history is crucial to the understanding of the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi. The building was the headquarters for COFO and the last known sighting of slain activists Andrew Goodman, and James Chaney. The chair is covered in lightweight cotton indicative of the summer dress covers used in southern homes prior to the advent of air conditioning. The embroidery work is a series of stitching of the buildings facades, quotations from civil rights leaders and statistics regarding the voting activities of African Americans in Mississippi in the 50’s and 60’s. Freedom Chair-2011 Embroidery on cotton linen In the collection of Erica Speed, Jackson, MS
The first map shows Amelie Gautreau ancestral home in False River Lousiana, the map on the skirt is her birthplace on Toulouse Street in New Orleans. The central map is the route taken by John Singer Sargent to l’Ecole de Beaux Arts to hang the portrait of Amelie in the 1883 . And the final map is the route from Amelie residence to Sargent’s studio where she pleaded with him to take the infamous painting Madame X, down from the Salon walls. Madame X’s skirt-2010 Embroidery on cotton chintz Exhibited at the Ole Miss Motel Show-2010
In 1903, the famous widow of Ulysses S. Grant and the famous widow of Jefferson Davis found themselves in a West Point New York resort. Julia was the first to knock on the other’s doorannouncing “I am Mrs. Grant” with Varina responding, “I am very glad to meet you”. And then they had Tea. Widow Chairs-2010 Black chintz on found chairs
This chair charts the movements of Varina Davis during the Civil War. Mrs. Davis left her Natchez home for Montgomery, the confederate capital at the start of the war. For the next 4 years Davis led a nomadic life, especially during her flight from Richmond. Davis never had a permanent home of her own until after Jefferson Davis’ died, although she was sometimes considered the matriarch of the southern cause. Varina’s Flight-2010 Embroidered linen on upholstered chair In the collection of Greg Best, Atlanta, Georgia
The Homage Series was an expression of a series of readings of southern women: Varina Davis, Julia Grant, their daughters Nell and Winnie. The summer covers were reconstructed and sewn from old textile lab coats. The images were placed on the cotton by ink jet printer. Small bits of embroidery and applique is scattered about the chair covers depending on the heroines temperament. Homage chairs-2010 Ink jet printing on up-cycled garments.
The History of Her Rooms I set about the task of how a stitch becomes a room and the issues of scale and all associated connotations. I read and studied the work of historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich; her book The Good Wives in particular. I was fascinated by the idea that an 18th century woman on a Maine homestead could occupy a world of repetitive arduous tasks as well as make vibrant leaps in her imagination via needlework. The rooms (the small models in the exhibition) are embroidered embodiments of this idea where some are flights of flowers and landscape and others are endless lists of tasks and obligations. The chair is a final homage to this woman’s life with vibrant mapping of flowers and flora and a sitting room within a chair. A Chair for her Interior Life Applique and embroidered linen on upholstered chair -2012 Exhibited at the Artist in Residence show-2nd edition-Textile Arts Center-2012