Decorative Art

ALMA LESCH
(American, 1917-1999)

Ful-O-Pep, 1972
Cotton with cotton and wool embroidery
Gift of Anne Brewer Ogden 2001.20

Although Kentucky fiber artist Alma Lesch created some of the non-representational textile pieces favored by her contemporaries during the 1960s and 1970s, she is best known for works such as Ful-O-Pep, which combine traditional fabric and sewing techniques with sentimental domestic imagery. Here, Lesch has created a precious art object by drawing inspiration from an iconic symbol of Kentucky farm life, the ordinary feed sack. Embroidered with the words “Ful-O-Pep,” a brand of animal feed, and “laying mash,” which refers to feed for laying hens, this textile romanticizes the idea of rural simplicity. Lesch might have hoped also to evoke the idea of a peaceful way of life in a time of national political turmoil.