Not By Bread Alone
Clay, saggar firing, steel, cable, plywood, mixed media. 8.5’ x 4.5’ x 6’
In this sculpture, I invited 150 participants who were healing from an eating disorder, from age 12 through 60, to collaborate with me. Each person creatively expressed their
personal experiences on slices of clay toast. Then, I incorporated all of their unique expressions into my work of art which focuses on the theme of our culture’s obsession with food, weight, and body image.
Slice of Life
Clay tiles, underglaze, wood, grout, mixed media
6’ x 8’ x 4’
Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation; the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, as one of the chosen artists in Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millennium, I partnered with the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas during a 4-month residency. Over 1000 local families – diverse in age, race, ethnicity, and religion –decorated tiles based on their memories around their kitchen tables. The tiles created the surface of two sculptural tables in the forms of a pizza and a watermelon slice, which are permanently on display at the Lied Museum.
Seeds of Peace
Clay tiles, underglaze, wood, grout, mixed media
6’ x 8’ x 4’
Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation; the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, as one of the chosen artists in Artists & Communities: America Creates for the Millennium, I partnered with the Lied Discovery Children’s Museum in Las Vegas during a 4-month residency. Over 1000 local families – diverse in age, race, ethnicity, and religion –decorated tiles based on their memories around their kitchen tables. The tiles created the surface of two sculptural tables in the forms of a pizza and a watermelon slice, which are permanently on display at the Lied Museum.
Circle of Hands
Plaster gauze, steel, mirrored plexiglass, watercolor, sharpie, miscellaneous hardware
8’ x 6’ x 6’
The religious chaplains at Massachusetts Institute of Technology invited me to lead workshops where the full community was invited to express themselves through casting their hand in a gesture that captures their thoughts and ideas about community. Participants then wrote down words onto their cast hands that continued their expression. I collected all of these hands and built a globe of hands with a pillar of mirrors in the center to include the viewers in the experience as well.
Circle of Light
Plaster gauze, steel, ceramic tiles for mosaic, grout, hand-made colored paper, modge podge, sharpie, wood, miscellaneous hardware
8’ x 6’ x 6’
The Jewish community in Detroit, Michigan invited me to lead workshops for their 7th & 8th graders, focusing on the light (goodness) they bring to the world. These young people were already connected to elders and they cast each others’ hands while sharing conversations about the ‘light’ they bring into the world. Each student wrote down their favorite story onto their hand of a ‘good deed’ they had noticed during the month-long project. While in residence, I built this sculpture with a menorah in the center, the ritual object used during Hanukkah to acknowledge miracles and goodness, with all of the hands around it in a globe form.
Taking Flight - Freedom Quilt
Cotton fabric, thread
4’ x 5’ (each quilt)
I trained college students at Princeton University Hillel to lead workshops for their fellow students to create their own fabric collage on the theme of freedom to connect with the holiday of Passover. Each quilt square (as each individual person) was an integral part of the whole image. Freedom was symbolized in three quilts with a bird taking flight.
Matzah Tallit - Jewish Prayer Shawl
Porcelain, guache, sharpie pens, golden braided rope. 8' x 4’ x 3’
In this sculpture, I invited 30 Jewish women to write down their experiences of what it is to be a Jewish woman in today’s culture on to porcelain matzah which were then tied together into a Jewish prayer shawl, a tallit. Hanging from the four corners are porcelain scrolls with prayers for Jewish women.
What Form Shall I Take Today?
Plexi-glass, molded porcelain forms of Barbie doll torsos, staples, pins, granulated sugar, sugar cubes, steel, light.
8’ x 3’ x 3"
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This sculpture explores the shadow side of beauty. This tall facade is filled from bottom to top with granulated sugar, sugar cubes, then Barbie doll torsos that have been stretched and distorted and punctured with pins and staples. The too tall and too thin image becomes even more distorted by the shadow created from the light shining from above.