Taut Skirt , 2007
A piece of artwork called Taut Skirt, which I made in college, did not survive the plane ride back to Salt Lake last fall. I clumsily tucked the artwork between my clothes, zipped up my luggage, and thought, “see you there!” Holding the broken pieces in my hands later, a sense of loss came over me.
I reflected on the time I spent creating this piece—cutting and finishing the walnut wood frame, making custom eyelet rivets from copper tubing and brass wire, the two different types of mold-making processes, and the ceramic slip cast. These techniques were some of my first exposure and self-discovery in building three-dimensional work. It shaped my skill set when I was a student in the Sculpture program at KU.
The dismantled artwork sat on my studio shelf till the end of winter. I decided to recycle the salvaged parts, assembling them into my current artist style --birds on a wire. Each walnut frame piece became its own small wall art display. The eyelet rivets, which were once threaded to hold the doll in the middle of the frame, became a brightly colored geometric shape to contrast the dark walnut wood. I think the small clutch of birds look very dashing in their reclaimed home.
You can read about the creation of my Taut Skirt series, just scroll down! It’s one of my first blog posts. Enjoy!
