Mass Cultural Council and the New Art Center (NAC) will present Mass Cultural Council Awardees in Crafts and Sculpture/Installation/New Genres, September 18-October 17, 2015, at the NAC.
Amy Podmore, one of the exhibiting artists, walks us through her art-making process.
I’m interested in investigating new media solutions to questions I’ve been exploring about the limitations of the sculptural object. The question that has been of great interest to me recently is- how can I heighten the poignancy of stillness? How do I push past boundaries — spatially, materially, and emotionally?
In the past, I have used nuanced gesture combined with objects that tend to surprise the viewer—rabbits-headed figures, udders, pitchers with legs– to imply animation and to reflect ineffable moments. For example, in “Measured Rest” the boot-clad figure grasps a violin; she is awkward and tense, conjuring, I believe, both immobility, as well as an urge to flee. Animation was implied by the gesture; but how to get beyond the implied without being obvious—how to heighten that charge, increase the tension in the work, and in the experience of the work.
In recent work, such as “Edge Drift” and “Lana,” I attempt to push beyond relying on gesture alone and employ actual animation as a juxtaposition or counterpoint to help bring forward what is so difficult to capture in material: tension between action and inaction. In all my work, I hope is to heighten the experience of absence and the gap between stillness and animation through physical, sensory and sound components that speak to the idea of loss and gain, and a sense of emotional finality caused by what is vs. what could have been. I hope to facilitate and highlight and extend the simple gesture into the corporal, spatial, and sensate.
See Amy Podmore’s work at the upcoming exhibition, Mass Cultural Council Awardees in Crafts, Sculpture, Installation & New Genres, September 18 – October 17, 2015. Opening Reception: September 18, 7-9 PM. New Art Center, 61 Washington Park Newtonville, MA, 02460
All images courtesy of Amy Podmore.
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