Kickstarter

A brief description:

Artifacts of Memory is a sculptural installation that embodies the cloud of loss and longing I experienced after the death of my mother.  Much like a fading memory, it lacks a defined center, edges or recognizable form to cling to.  The work contains 1100 magnets covered in pods made from silk flower petals—one half of the magnets hung from the ceiling and the other half tethered to the floor using nearly invisible wire, with a 1" gap in-between at eye level.  The result of this pairing is a cloud of objects hovering almost magically in space, with a plane of empty space lying between them. 

This is the second time that I will be installing the artwork—the first was part of my MFA thesis show in 2007 and had a very limited audiece.  I now have a great opportunity to exhibit the work in a solo show at the Miller Fine Arts Center, Linfield College, in McMinnville Oregon.  The exhibition will run from April 2nd through May 5th.  The space is beautiful and large, and I will be able to make the installation almost twice as large as the original showing.  I am incredibly excited about showing this work again, as it is one of the most personal and important artworks I have made. 

Full artist statement:

My mother took her own life August 6, 2004.  The void that opened up in my heart was immense and immediate, and it felt as if there was nothing in the world that could fill it.  When she first died the pain was fresh and sharp.  There were distinct edges that I could run my fingers across and I knew exactly where it hurt.  But now, over seven years later, those edges have blurred and have become harder to find.  They seem to have dissipated and diffused into uncertain places in my life.  Much like my grief, my once crisp memories of her seem to have dissolved into uncertain places in my mind, and I never know when I will encounter them.

Often my work starts as a lingering feeling or impression that defies words and imagery.  I spend a long time meditating on this sentiment, turning it over and over in my mind like a worry stone.  It is important for me to hunt down the perfect metaphors and representations until I find one that resonates.  The piece Artifacts of Memory started off as just a vague image in my mind that was connected to the cloud of loss and longing I am experiencing.  I wanted to create a piece that lacked a defined center, edges or object-hood.

I was able to capture these qualities by creating a circular field of magnets, with one set of magnets hung from the ceiling and one set tethered to the floor using nearly invisible wire. The result of this pairing is a cloud of objects hovering almost magically in space, with a plane of empty space lying between them.  Each one of the magnets is completely enclosed in a pod-like shape, made from silk flower petals, which conceal the mechanism of the attraction between the sets of objects—or at least temporarily, until the viewer investigates the illusion more closely.  The pods transition in a pulse of color: from a deep reddish-orange in the center, to a golden yellow, and then to a creamy white color at the edges of the circle.  Instead of one point of focus, it creates a more diffused, phenomenological experience.  This very minimal imagery is reminiscent of neurons and of hazy memories that won’t take shape, and the yearning for connections that have been lost.  The desire and draw between the two sets of magnets creates a charged space—the synaptic gap where messages and memories are transmitted or misplaced.