folding grids
Folding grids
I've been exploring the interplay between objects, and the image of an object on a flat surface. How does the flat surface of a painting rise upward to make a sculpture? Or conversely, how can I flatten a sculpture? Grids in mathematics are used to designate the position of points, lines and curves in empty space. But in art, grids speak also to a nearly mystical and meditative space. I hold both simultaneously. I use grids as a common, uniting thread among many of the works - grids folded in 3-dimensional space, and flat images of grids stretched and folded.
I work with silk, clay, pigments and metal. I like to collaborate with the way these materials respond to physical forces. Clay bends, melts, hardens, and sometimes cracks or breaks when heated to temperatures that would turn anything organic to ash. Silk holds shaped memories of my alterations, and yet still responds to gravity. I can hold silk to metal with magnetism. But rather than impose a rigid form or design, I prefer unpredictable responses to physical forces, especially gravity. I like to see results that hold records of the movement and tension generated in my work with materials. I want to see things that hold mystery, even to me, and invite the viewer to wonder what they are looking at.