DC HAT LADY
EYESWIDE OPEN
Vanilla Powell Beane - a life in hats, movement, and presence.
THE WOMAN BEHIND THE SCULPTURE
VANILLA POWELL BEANE
Vanilla Powell Beane was known as the DC Hat Lady. Her extraordinary hats became expressions of her imagination, her individuality, and the joy she brought into the world.
I wanted to capture something beyond her physical appearance.
The hats rise in a spiral. Her hair seems to move with them. Her eyes are wide open. The entire figure seems charged with energy.
This is a sculpture of a particular woman, with a name, a history, and a remarkable life.
But it is also my attempt to give her extraordinary spirit a physical presence.
THE SCULPTURE BEGINS TO MOVE
THE HATS BECOME A DRAWING IN SPACE
The hats do not sit still. They orbit her. Ribbons of metal rise, turn, cross and return, carrying the eye around the figure.
THE GESTURE
SHE’S ON FIRE
A life too exuberant to stand still.
Transcendence through exuberance.
THE FACE
EYES WIDE OPEN
The eyes are wide enough to resist a single reading.
They can hold contradictory states at once:
JOY AND VIGILANCE
SUCCESS AND VULNERABILITY
EXUBERANCE AND FEAR
BEING SEEN AND THE DANGER OF BEING SEEN
This is not what her eyes mean. It is what the sculpture is capable of holding.
THE DETAILS CARRY THE LIFE
LOOK CLOSER
Heart underfoot
A hat built as sculpture within sculpture
SCALE AND PRESENCE