The Stand (Possessing Powers), 2010-2014
carved plaster sculptures, custom wall niches with plaster objects, framed digital collages, artist book, custom shelf

The Stand (Possessing Powers) deals with sculptural traditions, American history, gender and form. Each of my carved plaster sculptures takes on a major work by Hiram Powers (1805-1873), once considered the Father of American Sculpture. I carve these works without the figures, focusing on the supporting elements, and the contact points between figure and support. In my process of making and unmaking, figure and ground conflate into new forms.

List of works:
The Stand: Last of the Tribes, 2010 (carved plaster, 71 x 22 x 22 inches)
The Stand: California, 2012 (carved plaster, 70 x 28 x 21 inches)
The Stand: Greek Slave, 2013 (carved plaster, 66 x 33 x 33 inches)
The Stand: Fisher Boy, 2013 (carved plaster, 68 x 20 x 20 inches)
The Stand: Eve Disconsolate, 2013 (carved plaster, 69 x 26 x 26 inches)
The Stand: Eve Tempted, 2013 (carved plaster, 72 x 25 x 25 inches)
Thicket book, 2013 (6.5 x 8.5 inches, 42 pages, edition of 500)
Key, 2010 (found lettering pages from Le Scritture di Tutti i Secoli, 11.5 x 15.25 inches including mat and frame)
Two rooms joined by a barrier, 2013 (Left: Rococo Revival Parlor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Right: West Parlor, Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, 16.5 x 32 inches including mat and frame)
Two Greek Slaves, 2013 (Left: Parian porcelain manufactured by Minton and Company, 1849, after Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave. Metropolitan Museum of Art; Right: Parian porcelain after Hiram Powers’ Greek Slave. Frederick Douglass National Historic Site, 10 x 21 inches including mat and frame)