This piece is called “All the things my children gave me in May” because it is literally all the beautiful things my children gave me in May! Having four little children, things just flow out of their hands towards me. They are constantly giving me things for my artwork. Special, beautiful gifts that mean everything to them for a short while. My six year old son even climbed a tree to get me that curly dried vine. This piece is about the beautiful whimsical quality of children that helps them completely embrace the present moment. It’s also about how children use transitional phenomena to create a transitional space through play. D.W. Winnicott writes about ‘transitional phenomena’ in which the object is embued with a part of the owner, creating a transitional space through which to interact with the outer world. This is the basis for symbolism, religion and creativity later in life. This artwork points out how fleeting and in the moment those transitional phenomena can be. Children are masters of creating transitional space through play. My goal is to be able to play as well as they do.
Plus it was just so beautiful to receive so many flowers and natural forms after being cooped up for the winter!
The next step for this piece is to make new, smaller silicone molds to cast the resin squares. First I’m making wooden molds to make wax prototypes of the squares. Then I’ll make silicone molds from the wax protoypes. It is a time consuming process, but once I have the molds I’ll be able to use them over and over again. As you can see below, the wax has cooled in the molds and is ready for me to take out so I can drill the needle holes.
