Michael Burton | A Gold Slipper

Marshall McKann, a coal man, attends a concert by vocalist Kitty Ayrshire with his wife and her friend Mrs. Post at the Carnegie Music Hall in Pittsburg, PA.  He doesn’t attend concerts because “when he became a person of substance he stopped that sort of nonsense”.  But the incorrigible Mrs. Post insists on seeing Ms. Ayrshire when she learns there are seats available behind the piano on stage for the sold out show.

Kitty Ayrshire is a true artist, adored by fans in Europe and America. She’s equally smart and mischievous.  She piques McKann’s interest during the concert by brushing his knee each time she enters the stage. After the concert, on a chance encounter with McKann, Kitty hitches a ride to the 11:25pm train to New York where she proceeds to seduce and intellectually dominate him by questioning his position on woman, the arts, industry, religion, and society.

A Gold Slipper contains vivid descriptions of clothing, architecture, locations, and personalities that eerily mirror points of view one might hear today. The video tableaux in this exhibition are key scenes from the short animated film (2020).  The pochoir prints represent the opulence is associated with Kitty’s character.

A special thanks to the Cather Project at UNL for funding support, Western Meadowlark LLC and NET Nebraska for production, Katie Otten  as Kitty and Wayne Matychuk as McKann.