“Go forth from me a virgin…” Visions of Dolly

A few months ago, Dolly Parton came to me in a dream and yesterday we lost more than a legend.

August 25th, 2026, a day that smothered like a heavy dark mass. I reflected, like so many of us did, on the otherworldly transcendence of Dolly Parton. We lost a dear friend who, for most of us, has sat shotgun the entire ride. It hurts.

As a designer and an artist, I keep looking for how she might have influenced my work, and I can't find her mark anywhere. Apart from the time in the mid 80s when I directed my little sister to stuff a pillow under her shirt and put a doily on her head while I recorded her on our early VHS Magnavox, lip-syncing "I Will Always Love You." She was quite adept at lip-syncing. For both of our sakes, I hope it never resurfaces.

:”Behind the Seams” a christmas gift from my partner Jeffrey.

For me she was a North Star in a complicated world where I find myself wary of having any human idols. But if I did, Madonna would be the Iconoclast, the fire stealer; Tori Amos the Oracle, the Orpheus; and Dolly Parton the benevolent one, the Hermes who everybody loves. Of the three, she is the one I can't stop thinking about today.

But last night, exhausted and making comfort food to soothe my soul, I remembered that a few months ago Dolly came to me in a wild, vivid dream. Recording my dreams has become a bit of a hobby. They are so clear and sometimes terrifying, but they are nothing short of miraculous, and often they find their way into my work.

Below is the text of that dream, which I quickly dictated into my notes app, which is why some of it is hard to understand.

Oct 16, 2025, 6:38 AM

"Dolly Parton is in my dreams last night. She's in her trailer with this gigantic sewing machine that had an option resser (presser?) foot. I get the impression it's hard for her to slow down. She is studding her shoes for the shows and at some point she's having a lot of trouble and the girls (her handlers) fix it at one point we are all gathered around her she pull me aside starting to slip on 1860s floral brocade and leather lace up boots that she got on very easily (I remember it gliding on quickly) with cover passes pia asses (???) went down and she had told me some very wise stuff, including that I should "Go forth from me a virgin and have presence in your veins", and then she lit a bush of sage"

Needless to say, I had a fantastic day. Those words have stuck with me. "Go forth from me a virgin and have presence in your veins." My interpretation: see the world as a child, and know that this moment is all we have.

I got to meet Dolly that night in my sleep.

That direction has found its way into a few of my works. I was hoping to land it in the joint 21C Hotels show that Heather Bennett and I have up right now, but alas, it was cut at the last minute in editing.

Dolly was my North Star for leaving the world better than you found it. People are flawed, but Dolly's flaws seemed few. In a world that feels so depraved, so greedy, so full of hate, it's crushing to lose your guiding light. But we have her words. We have her music, her laughter, her pranks. Her generosity and thoughtfulness will keep surprising us in ways we can't predict.

We even have one more song, that we know of. Locked away in a chestnut box at Dollywood is a song she recorded in 2015. On her 100th birthday, January 19th, 2046, we will open her box, aptly named the "Dream Box," a box named for dreams. Of course she left us that.

You're crying I'm not crying.

So I did find her mark, in my veins, stitched on cloth, embroidered on silk.

One can only hope she has a few more mystic visions left to impart on me. Knowing Dolly, she does. 🦋

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“Go forth a virgin and have presence in your veins” Embroidered handknit deadstock elastic and wool sleeveless pullover.

A little mouse in a house and she was the cat.

Susan and my chessboard before the game.

Last month, July 28th, to be exact, I had the great honor of being one of 49 artists, scholars, and curators to play a chess simul against Grandmaster Susan Polgar at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC. The event commemorated two things simultaneously: the Marcel Duchamp exhibition spanning his life’s work, and his birthday. He would be 139 years old today.

The battle was a long thrill ride. Each of her opponents, mostly grown adults, minus an 11-year-old who was the second-to-last eliminated were giddy as school children to be walloped by a former child prodigy in her own right.

I was invited in early January and waited without exhaling, entirely due to my own superstitions about counting my pawns before they promote to queens. Queening! (See what I did there?) As the event was pushed back further and further, I began to chase silver linings: perhaps my daily Sisyphean task of training would at least make me fun at parties, or at parks with strangers.

In 2018, my friend Shannon Bailey, curator at the World Chess Hall of Fame, offered to have my first solo show. At the time, it felt like a story best told through the lens of chess, climate change, fashion, and a science fiction romp. Making pretty clothes for people to gawk at felt flat; I wanted to know what was my role, what could serve beauty but also enlighten myself and hopefully others. It changed my life’s trajectory like nothing I could have ever imagined. It proved to me, in joyous and painful ways, that I was more than just a “Fashion Designer.” I was an artist, dare I say, maybe even a scholar. For a game with so many restrictions and regulations, chess feels to me like a boundless art form within itself, a contact sport of science, strategy, history, and logic. I will forever be grateful to Shannon and WoCHoF for the opportunity.

...Nxe5 Dress made from deadstock bra underwire (2019)

That realization gave me the audacity to keep studying and creating, which ultimately ushered me into MoMA, looking across the board at the world's first female Grandmaster. What a thrill. Chess, like any great passion, has taught me that the more I participate, the less I really know. The older I get, the more I’ve learned to enjoy rejection, “hand me my leather,” I suppose. The act allows for introspection and, hopefully, growth, so that I can roll the boulder up, get it over the hill, and see the next one on the horizon.

My game with Susan also felt like a metaphor for life. I came in with a strategy, but immediately she made the move I least wanted: 1. e4. Ugh. She was three steps ahead of me every time, though at least I was able to castle kingside. Still, to no avail; like everyone else, defeat was imminent. All in all, after a little under three hours, deep breaths, and 38 moves, I shook hands with Susan and sat in the most beautiful surrender.

.

Post Covid momentum

Dress in process… hand bent and machine sewn bra underwires onto a vinyl base.

For about the last four years, it has been a challenge to be even remotely inspired to make my art or clothing. I have always been a bit of a futurist with my eye partially locked on the rearview mirror. The confusions over where we are headed as a planet, our health, what is truly important, the paths I hope we take, and finally my next act have weighed very heavily on me. This has been a game of waiting and patiently listening to the world around me. For me, silence and distance always bring about clarity.

With all of this said, I am thrilled to be adopting a new paradigm in my approach to design and art, pushing the work to be even more sustainable and thoughtful as I progress. I will be documenting this process, allowing anyone to know more about this journey in this journal here.

Starting June 15th, my workspace will change, having signed a lease with MADE Makerspace in the Makers District of St. Louis. I will have access to all of the machinery (laser cutters, embroidery machines, CNC lathes, wood shop, metal smithing) and a dedicated studio space to create among so many talented artists. It is the perfect fit. So please follow me on this next chapter as we push forward.

Thankfully,

-M

CNC laser cutter

Studio space and partner Photographer Danielle.