Charles H. Taylor Center for the Arts, Small Works
October 25, 2011 Leave a Comment
Small Works, Miniatures by Hampton Roads Artists
October 22 – December 4, 2011
The Charles H. Taylor Center for the Arts
4205 Victoria Blvd, Hampton VA 23669
My artwork is a record of the pathways that I have taken in my process of becoming. Mixed media sculpture helps me understand and integrate my personal emotional history, observations, and recurrent dreams. I work intuitively with the found objects I collect, guided by half-formed sketches, unsorted and unfiltered emotional experiences, and half-remembered dreams. Sometimes I go searching for a particular thrift store item that fits a concept I'm exploring, and other times these cast-off objects speak to me and reverberate with something floating just below my awareness. I combine these findings to create totally new structures upon which to build my narratives.
Animals and animal/human combinations play a role in my sculptural stories. The human figures I that I render over wire armatures often appropriate animal features both to cloak their imperfections and to express a connection with the essence of the animal. Their attempts to hide behind a familiar and comforting form never quite leave them satisfied. The bird imagery in my work also expresses an unfulfilled longing. We know that birds have the capacity for marvelous freedom, but before they find their wings they are helpless and fragile, and in constant need. In my work they are often caged and struggling for nurturance. Sometimes they are held in a figure's elongated fingers and we're not sure if they're being helped to freedom or restrained. Sometimes I'm not sure. As important as it is for me to use my art to make sense of the world, it is just as important that viewers take their own experience from my work and the juxtapositions in my artwork leave room for their personal interpretations.
