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Marilyn Parkinson Thrall believes dresses have power.

“It’s how you feel when you wear certain dresses, how you may feel judged and misjudged. Sometimes what you wear will make you disappear into the woodwork,” Thrall says. “It’s not the dress itself. It’s how you feel in the dress, how you’re perceived.”

Thrall, of Canton, created a sculpture at Avon library of Sept. 11 victim Amy Toyen, depicting Toyen as a child wearing her favorite dress. An exhibit up now at the Hartford Public Library’s ArtWalk is more introspective. Using clay, fabric and found objects, Thrall created sculptures of dresses that she remembers from throughout her life as a way to visually call up the emotions she felt in those periods.

“The dresses are metaphors for who I was at that time,” she says.

“Angel Baby and Other Such Facades” is a toddler’s dress with wings on the back and a filmy skirt dotted with sayings: “sugar and spice and everything nice,” “pretty is as pretty does,” etc. A tattered dance dress, like one she wore when she was young and wanted to become a dancer, represents “the first time you realize dreams all don’t come true.”

Marilyn Parkinson Thrall makes sculptures of dress materials and clay.
Marilyn Parkinson Thrall makes sculptures of dress materials and clay.

“People tell kids ‘you can be anything you want to be,’ but it’s not true. Circumstances and skills get in the way,” she says.

“Radiant Bride” is filled with hanging silverware, both the dress and the utensils representing outward representations of wedded bliss, which isn’t the same as real wedded bliss. A dress made from chicken wire and filled with eggs, and hung with diapers with comforting sayings, symbolizes motherhood.

Other dresses in the show don’t represent Thrall’s life but more generalized femininity: a bark dress, to illustrate the constantly-changing nature of how women represent themselves; an “un-dress” made of dryer lint, to represent where all dresses end up; a dress hanging from the ceiling, weighed down by rocks, a visual symbol of the forces – family, friends, etc. – that keep women grounded.

Throughout the gallery, the dresses are surrounded by charming terracotta sculptures of women and children.

MARILYN PARKINSON THRALL: THE DRESS / MEMORY AND METAPHOR is at ArtWalk on the third floor of Hartford Public Library, 500 Main St., until April 29. artwalk.hplct.org.

What’s On Other Walls

“Counterparts,” a show of paintings by J. Hutchinson Fay of Willimantic, is at Kerri Studio & Gallery, 861 Main St. in Willimantic, until April 21. An opening reception is March 22 from 6 to 8 p.m. kerriquirk.com.

David Chorney uses dropped-paint methodology to create nonrepresentational abstract paintings and is showing his work in an exhibit “Let It Flow” at Yale Center for Medical Informatics, 300 George St. in New Haven, until April 20. An opening reception is March 24 from 2 to 4 p.m. facebook.com/botodo

Elizabeth Ann McNally’s “Do Not Feed The Animals!” is at Farmington Valley Arts Center, 25 Arts Center Lane in Avon, until March 24. On that day, a tea and talk with McNally will be at 3 p.m. artsfvac.org.

“A Print Sampler: Explore Printmaking Techniques Through Polish Prints 1960-1990” is at William Benton Museum of Art at UConn in Storrs from March 22 to May 27. benton.uconn.edu.

“From Their Hands and Lands: Artifacts from Connecticut’s Enfield Shakers” is at Connecticut Historical Society, 1 Elizabeth St. in Hartford, starting March 23, when a reception will be held at 5:30 p.m. chs.org.

“Becky Cook — Creative Fusion Glass,” a show of work by the artist from Hebron, will be on display from March 26 to May 4 at Middlesex Community College, in the Niche gallery inside Founders Hall. At the same time, in the Pegasus Gallery inside the library, “Bends And Shadows,” a show of origami by Ben Parker, will be shown. His reception is April 2 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. mxcc.edu.