*Entrance Denied: the Art of the Chastity Belt*
*Summer 2009 at Mineral*

Mineral is pleased to present a show of chastity belts by artists as part of /Metal-Urge/, the Tacoma Arts Commission's summer-long showcase of the metal arts. In /Entrance Denied: the Art of the Chastity Belt/, regional artists take on a historical curiosity whose origins are shrouded in medieval lore. In the modern imagination, the chastity belt was a mechanical device employed to enforce women's virtue. While examples of such devices have been exhibited at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Doges Palace in Venice and the Musée de Cluny in Paris, in reality the chastity belt probably never knew wide circulation. However, as an anti-sex device (for both sexes), variations of the locking belt were in use from the 1700s to the 1930s. /Entrance Denied: the Art of the Chastity Belt/ features exquisite examples of master blacksmithing; sex-prevention belts for Barbie made of sterling silver, and several witty, mixed-media interpretations of history's most notorious fashion accessory.