| Description |
Just as we make tools to try to overcome our limitations, we make gestures to try to connect with people and things beyond ourselves. In this exhibition, I consider the utensil as a poetic extension of the body. The work follows a decade of contemplating the meaningfulness of daily tasks and of the objects used to perform them. Studying other artists and writers has been a significant part of my creative practice. Their work has helped me to see how inanimate objects can express human experience, how these items can acquire a psychological and emotional significance beyond their utilitarian value, and how bodily actions are connected to spiritual life. Reflecting on these ideas, I have used the spoon both as a metaphor and as a basis for abstraction. The challenge of constructing these extremely fragile forms from porcelain and bone china provided abundant opportunities for technical discovery. The difficulties and limitations I encountered became essential to my overall concept. The ideas I have developed during this project have suggested new directions to explore as I continue to study the expressive potential of line and of forms based on functional objects. |
