“Emergence”

This sculpture was showcased in the “reBUILDING” national exhibit during the pandemic. As our lives were upended, we found ways to navigate in a vastly different landscape and faced loss and separation like never before. We carried these memories as we re-emerged and literally embraced reconnections and newfound freedoms while we honored the many lives lost.

This encaustic sculpture was created after learning how to work with thermoplastic fiber (Fosshape) with artist Deborah Kapoor. After placing the material over hand-built reed forms, tools, and partial structures in my studio space, I heated the material, then twisted the resulting molded fabric until I found a shape that felt right. Sewing it into place, I began waxing layer after layer until a biomorphic form made itself known. The practice was methodical and soothing, and I let my thoughts and feelings wander before layering with white encaustic paint and carving the many lines into the wax, finding comfort for my emotions but not so much for my hands as I carved through hundreds of layers of wax for over 50 hours to define the form that evolved from its depths. The separated cavities on the bottom of the piece merged to become part of the spiral, much as we were all drawn into the spiral of COVID. I contemplated the life force that fuels us to fight for our lives and those we love and for total strangers, beckoning our best as we carry newfound awareness of the preciousness of everyday experience and connection. May we find and create as much beauty, love, peace, and healing as we can muster.