SCULPTURE

My recent sculptural work was created in an attempt to decipher, validate and learn from the experience of living through a global pandemic.  I am interested in the way in which humans, with their varied personal histories and psychological makeup endured the uniquely stressful circumstances and fallout from this moment in history.  Having taken the time of isolation to focus intensely inward, I emerged with a greater willingness to face my own emotional reality, moment to moment, rather than to engage in long-held protective patterns of dissociation and disconnection.

The Pandemic Prayer Series was created in the Spring through Summer of 2020 and by “prayer,” I am referencing a feeling of helplessness so strong that it gives way to surrender and calm, rather than prayer to a specific entity or for a particular outcome.  Layered over this, in each small plaster cast bust, I acknowledge variable thematic moods with the treatment of the copy.

“Face Yourself, Brace Yourself,” a larger mixed media piece, acknowledges the darker side of isolated self-reflection, while “Then We Burst Forth,” celebrates the joy and expression upon doing so.  Following in the footsteps of sculptors like Rona Pondick and Janine Antoni, here I incorporated a cast of my own face, asserting and validating the individuality within my artistic presence .

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“Dissociation,” a project begun in 2019 and completed in 2021, is an expression related to the ability of the mind to disconnect from the body as an extreme trauma response.  The figure’s capacity to think, see, speak or hear is clouded by a thick wrapping of gauze.  Its legs are large, heavy and immovable, while its arms are thin and weak.

“We Homeschooled,” was created in the fall of 2021 as a response to having spent the previous year homeschooling my young children during the Covid-19 pandemic. The cormorant is constructed of materials related to our unexpected, highly challenging, isolating, beautiful, mournful, counter-cultural, nature-filled year together. Held together and primarily built from zip-ties, every material included is significant to our experience, from the rocks we gathered to the socks they grew out of.  My sense is that the importance of motherhood is undervalued in my culture and I am proud to amplify this facet of humanity in my work.