"What Has Grown", 2023
Metal, wood, found glass, lightbulb, lazy susan, wire
My last sculpture in undergrad. I wanted to make something that can be deconstructed and something that moved. The shattered glass are seeds that were planted in me when bad things happened. The tree is me now, grown, able to hold those experiences delicately with hindsight while not letting them too close to me. As the sculpture spins, it sends the hanging glass pieces outwards and makes it difficult for the person spinning it to keep spinning it. It shows physically that if someone gets too close, they might get hurt.
I found a similar piece of glass that is yellow, but unfortunately the tree itself didn't fit on that part.
It gives off quite a bit of light on its own.
* * *
On Behalf of God, 2022
Wood, found objects, CDs, sheet music, clay, fabric, dice
This piece is about people using religion as an excuse to speak for God. There's a lot of symbolism in this piece, from the pieces of sheet music saying things like "pure and white as snow", to the organ being chained to the beast, as a representation of the music being used as a method to keep people in the throes of the religion. The hand itself is higher than the cross, because the people who use religion this way see themselves as above God.
The billiard ball is the number 6, and the dice both have the 6 face up.
The green figures under the fabric are the people crushed by the high demands of the religion.
* * *
Starry Knight, 2023
Ceramic, metal
This piece originally was fully ceramic, but the mask broke. I was learning some metalworking techniques at the same time, so I decided to re-make the mask with metal. This piece was really a test of how the underglazes layered, but I'm glad the metal worked out.
* * *
"Don't Look at Me Like Another Lost Soul", 2023
Mirror, ceramic, T-pins, embroidery thread
This piece is about my religious journey. The steps up the side are the path of stability that slowly becomes more and more precarious the further from the ground they get. The T-pins and thread create a railing that also disappears. The separate post represents me on my own now, with only a cracked bridge to keep me connected to the past. The inside of this sculpture has a bunch of eyes, and underneath are mirrored panels. If you look in, you not only see yourself, you also see a bunch of eyes looking back at you, with judgement.
* * *
"A Song of Joy and Gladness" 2023
Found hymnbook, wood, hot glue, clay
This piece is about how music can be used to manipulate, striking straight into the heart. When I was religious, the biggest thing keeping me there was an emotional connection. The main conductor of that emotional connection was the music my mother and sisters and I sang, further cementing me in the religion as well as strengthening the bond between us.
