"Still Lifebox VI"
1997
21 x 11 x 4
Earthenware clay, low fire
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My most recent series, "Still Lifeboxes," implies home through architecture and the domesticity found within. The still life objects, perched on top of these boxes, have an animated figurative quality, suggesting a relationship between them. This interest in the still life as a subject was fired up in 1990 in Bologna, Italy, when I saw the Georgia Morandi Retrospective Exhibition. I was amazed at how Morandi could paint such simple everyday objects repeatedly and yet brilliantly capture their mystical qualities. In 1991, I spent my sabbatical as a artist-in-resident at the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT. I worked alongside potters making functional pots meant to be used and enjoyed. This lead to research on modern artists depicting the everyday object, such as Cezanne and contemporary artists such as Elizabeth Murray. I was challenged by the play of the actual object which is three dimensional, as opposed to the visual image which is merely two dimensional. I utilize this imagery to play with the viewer' perception of space and three dimensionality.