All Fall Down....

This week's subject, or should I say verb, is falling. Falling, drifting, descending or however you choose to think of the downward journey. Here, I've crafted a piece that depicts the face as ripe fruit ( a little influence from Archimboldo!). I think of fruit as an almost perfect metaphor for the face: from blossom to over ripe and everything between. I think my own face is becoming quite ripe, but there's still a way to go before landfall......

Free Falling

This little mask is on a journey much like my own. I feel sometimes as if life is very much a free falling adventure with little to grab onto to slow the descent. And then too, a wind can come up and change my course - or a bird could capture and carry me away. So many possibilities and yet, so little control. I wonder if we're all free falling and colliding with each other as the winds play.....

Brainstorm

Is this how a "brainstorm" would look? Well, for me it's one possibility - and my work is all about possibilities and what ifs. In my quest to personify ideas, the results are sometimes a bit strange and even a little foreboding. I do enjoy hinting at (or poking fun at) some of life's mysteries.

This piece was made early in 2000 when my brain was working overtime. Its size is approximately 9" high by 4" wide and I have no idea where it now resides......

A Different Perspective

Sometimes the simplest pieces are the most effective at delivering their messages: I feel this mask falls into that category. With its skewed angle and shrinking grid it seems so obvious....but is it really? Beyond the obvious is the question (yeah, always with the questions!) why is a different perspective necessary or even desirable? I'll leave that for you to answer - or not....

The size of this stoneware mask (2002) is about 7" high by 5" wide and she's hanging around somewhere on an unknown wall......

A Gathering of Old Friends....

Here is a grouping to illustrate what I was talking about in my last post. All of the sculptures are wearing masks - except for the "Open Heart". The masks can be removed to reveal the face underneath. I play around with these and put different masks on the sculptures: there are always so many possibilities within my own creative sensibility that I have a difficult time putting limitations on it.....

Open Hearts

I was pleased to find that I still had photos of these small sculptures since I thought they had been lost in a computer crash. I made them circa 2000 and they were the first sculptures that I meant to be stand alone pieces. Previous small sculptures had been created as stands to display the masks......and a number of people commented that it was a shame to cover them up! So began my journey with freestanding pieces. I love making them but it's difficult to find places for them in my small studio: walls are so much easier! That said, I'm having more and more ideas for new ones and have a few in the works......

These particular pieces are each around 10" high and were made of earthenware clay.

With A Little Help From My Friends....

This mask made its debut in November of 2005 and it's one of those pieces I still happen to have: probably because it's a mask that is just too personal for others to relate to. It's always interesting to me observing the public and how different masks attract different types of people. I never know which pieces will find their way into new homes or why they were chosen over others.........although, sometimes I'm given a bit more information than I would like!

I don't make work with the idea that it must be pleasing to others, or sell-able but to release ideas that are trapped in my mind. However, it pleases me greatly when I am able to connect some of my ideas with those who share them.....