What Remains is a body of work that contemplates the experience of the bereaved. In the intimate spaces of home, every unused object and empty space is a reminder of the deceased. They remain with us through our memories, stories, photographs, and possessions left behind. My work is strongly affected by my own experience with the death of family and nostalgic feelings connected to my Midwestern upbringing. The stillness of winter's frozen landscape and old, abandoned farm structures are a metaphor for loss. As I reflect on this place where my family was once whole, I compulsively make objects in order to repair and restore what has been lost. The sculptures resemble dilapidated farm equipment and domestic items. References to clothing, tissue, and jewelry present grief as a burden taken on by the body. The five pieces in What Remains invite the viewer to experience the mournful beauty of the ritual of remembering a lost loved one. My materials included copper foil, glass enamel, steel wire, wax, salt, fabric, tissues, silver chain, and found furniture. My primary methods of construction involve metal fabrication, casting wax into silicon molds, as well as a series of repetitive and laborious processes such stitching, twisting, and tying of materials. These repetitive processes are meditative, express a sense of time, and echo a melancholic longing for the past. An exhibition of this work was presented in the Flor Y Canto Gallery at San Diego State University, May 01-05, 2010. A set of images of this project is on file at the Slide Library of the School of Art, Design, and Art History at San Diego State University.
