Moments of Clarity, repurposed wood and wire and acrylic paint

There’s nothing like a deadline to help with focus! Also, going cold-turkey from social media platforms ‘who must not be named’ has been helpful. Here’s an image of a new piece for my upcoming solo show at WSG Gallery in Ann Arbor. It’s made mostly from repurposed materials. The only things that aren’t repurposed are nails and screws.

My goal with these small, wall-hung sculptures is to create pieces that ‘float’ on the walls (via cleats) and create intricate shadow drawings on the wall when lit. I’m thinking about color, shape, shadow and scale, when in the studio. I’m also thinking about grief and joy. Here’s my artist statement for the upcoming show, entitled ‘Preview’

Preview

This project is a continuation of the body of work I’ve been making since early 2020 - a meditation on grief that transcends the breathless moments of despair. It’s more an exploration of the ways to experience grief….the ways to move through it. At the heart of my inquiry lies a deep curiosity about human resilience.

5 years into this body of work, I recognize that grief can be both isolating and communal, encompassing a spectrum of experiences. Certainly, everyone has some form of grief they ‘re dealing with. And while there may be a hierarchy of grief experiences, there is a shared understanding of loss.

I continue to challenge myself by using primarily repurposed materials to make my sculptural work. This commitment fosters a thoughtful use of resources in my studio practice. Working abstractly allows me to enjoy the visual and logistical problem-solving while losing myself in the process.

Occasionally I find myself at the same time.

The work in this blog post is in my newest show at WSG gallery in Ann Arbor. The work was all created within the last year, but I made the vast majority of it since early December. So it’s pretty hot off the press! To learn more, scroll down to my artist’s statement.

Circle Practice and Chevrons, detail, steel, found objects

Circle Practice and Chevrons, 41 x 43 x 5”, steel, found objects

All of the pieces in this body of work has some form of repurposed material in it. I have used repurposed materials for all of my creative life, with the intent to use the materials as simply materials…..using them in such a way that they transcend their previous purpose.

Domestic Bliss Sketches 1, 17 x 12 x 3”, steel

Domestic Bliss Sketches 2, 10 x 9 x 3”, steel, found objects

Artist’s Statement

All art is made within some kind of context. That’s one of the things we love about art - the stories behind the pieces or the makers. The past 4 months have been a traumatic time for our family. A time which our family will refer to as ‘before and after’ for quite some time. One of the many saving graces has been keeping a healthy sense of humor. When I got back to the studio ‘after’, I faced an unfinished piece that, luckily, had some interesting things going on in it that I might have missed, had I not been in the ‘after’. The entire experience - ‘the during’- was a forced paring down to essentials, a forced economy of function. It was a great starting point for something new.

With this body of work, I continue my pursuit of interesting shadows. I get back to some basics like line, shape, color, value (shadow density), movement, texture. The pieces are joyful and playful. Because making art is joyful and playful! In the making of this work, I allowed myself to make mistakes and experiment, which is harder than you might think.

Pay particular attention to the shadows in the sculptural pieces. For instance, in ‘The New Normal’, I consider the lines I created by crocheting wire, leather, etc. to be three-dimensional drawn lines. They cast different densities of silhouettes against the wall. The shadows become a drawing of their own.

I come from a background of both painting and sculpture. I am constantly thinking of how those two worlds connect, cross over and diverge. This new body of work comes closest to melding 2-D and 3-D ideas for me, while still allowing those ideas to maintain individual integrity.

Domestic Bliss Sketches 3, 14 x 12 x 3”, steel, acrylic, found objects

The New Normal, 43 x 45 x 5”, wire, rubber, leather, found objects

Variations on Domestic Bliss Sketches 6, 27 x 21”, watercolor, collage

Variations on Domestic Bliss Sketches 6, detail

Variations on Domestic Bliss Sketches 1, 11 x 9”, watercolor, collage

Prepping for a solo show at WSG Gallery

Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy - new work