Sculpture:
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June 17- November 12, 2023
Boulders And Borders Mixed Media North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show @ The Bennington Museum |
Boulders and Borders is an attempt to elucidate the ineffable feeling of belonging. The cultural affectations of belonging and the specific objects that are manifest by this “desire”, to identify either individually or with a group, are both the cause and the effect of creating the space of the “other”. I live “here”. You live “there”. I want to control my resources and environment. Therefore, you must not be allowed access to what I have, unless you are part of my inner circle and have the implicit rights of the same group to which I “belong”. For this to be revealed
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across competing groups, that a common purpose is dominant in a space, the invention of flags has been the prevalent method of identification. Flags are a logos that can be presented and understood across language barriers and give those that bear them a sense of common purpose and identity. This feeling of patriotism, and by extension, pride, can commandeer the way a group functions and interacts with its neighbors in an elitist manner. By creating the “other”, one either is faced with or creates an unknown. Because the “other” is unknown, the idea of “them” seeds the minds of those within the group with ideas of transgression, and or difference. This can exacerbate fearful tendencies and create unwarranted projections about the “other” when the reality is closer to the center, we are all looking for similar basic human rights of existence, regardless of the flag that unites us, each to their own.
Borders and Boulders is a language of exclusion and identity, as well as a look at the shadow of colonialism. Or, in opposition to the idea of colonialism, it could be seen as a path toward shedding the colonialist structures inherent in nationalism and accept a shared space of cooperation. What happens when we lose our flags and take down our borders? What happens when we stop creating spaces, both real and imagined, for the “other” to exist? When these things happen, we create room for new conversations to emerge and a path to understanding can be developed. The complexities inherent in cross cultural understanding notwithstanding, the opportunity to develop peaceful posturing through tolerance and respect can enrich our lives. Working together, all boats can rise.
Borders and Boulders is a language of exclusion and identity, as well as a look at the shadow of colonialism. Or, in opposition to the idea of colonialism, it could be seen as a path toward shedding the colonialist structures inherent in nationalism and accept a shared space of cooperation. What happens when we lose our flags and take down our borders? What happens when we stop creating spaces, both real and imagined, for the “other” to exist? When these things happen, we create room for new conversations to emerge and a path to understanding can be developed. The complexities inherent in cross cultural understanding notwithstanding, the opportunity to develop peaceful posturing through tolerance and respect can enrich our lives. Working together, all boats can rise.
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Losing Time
2023 North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show Mixed Media 
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Losing Time. It's a constant struggle. I feel like I'm constantly triangulating, constantly looking for some directional indication. It's not possible to move forward, when the landscape looks the same in this direction as it does in that. The spiral falls out of synch with you, and it's your responsibility to find your center again. Close your eyes and let the wind direct you. Open them and let the flags show you which way to go, without going anywhere. 3 flying buttresses create a shelter for the being made of air; in touch and moved by the winds of the world.
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Losing Time. Landing in inclement weather. Wind Funneling in circular patterns. Time disappearing from experience. Sounds rushing into and toward silence. Bounded by the chantings of crickets. Losing Time. Turning and turning again. Directionless. Timeless. Present. Losing Time Again. Blustery business. Triangulated and butressed. Spatially anchored. Temporally unmoored.
Trail Marker
2022 North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show at the Bennington Art Museum in Vermont Outdoor Paint on Wood and paper cement, 8-2022 Trail Marker is a marker, a beacon, and a sign post pointing in the direction one has to move through to get to the other side. Whether this is literal or figurative matters not. Liminal spaces are engineered to present warped space time narratives that collide with the here and now. What gateway, or portal is here before me? Let the air elemental dance with these flags, as the color vibrates against nature's own. Waves upon waves upon waves sending me straight into direct confrontation with my own mortal coil while providing comfort in the knowledge that I've come from something, and I'm going to something else.
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Penultimate Plow
2021 North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show Version 1, Outdoor Paint on Wood, 8-2021 |
Penultimate Plow,
2022 Tilly Foster Farm Outdoor Sculpture Show Version 2, Outdoor Paint on Wood, 8-2022 |
The Penultimate Plow is nearly the last tool to help furrow the fields for planting dreams. With a monocular head piece shining a light into the liminal spaces between worlds, lighting the way for wayward spirits to travel to and from, this fantastic invention stands ready to work the earth so that new life can spring forth. A triangle is the logos from which it emerges, setting the mind to accept the passing of solid form into possibility.
