Constructions
Carol Boram-Hays, Phyllis Ewen, Cinda Kelly, Meg Walker 

May 25 – June 19, 2004

Carol Boram-Hays, Phyllis Ewen, Cinda Kelly, Meg Walker

Constructions brings together works that explore the deconstruction and reconstruction of everyday materials into sculptural objects. Carol Boram-Hays uses found metal, clay and cement to create sculptural works that refer to America’s crumbling post-industrial landscape. They suggest decaying structures that are enlivened as sculptural elements emerge through layers of wear. The artist describes the work as a reflection of “profound ambivalence toward the legacy of an industrialized heritage. These are places of both life and death, and tragedy and triumph.” Phyllis Ewen’s sculptures of steel wire, filled and clear resin, and latex are vessel-like works that capture ephemeral complexities in natural phenomena. The work is concerned with a process of investigation and understanding, the continuum between art and science. The artist says, “Containment, holding and the impossibility of permanence are issues that resonate with my own experience, emotional and intellectual, of my place in the natural world.” Cinda Kelly uses various forms of paper to create sculptural work on a larger scale. Drawing from mostly non-art sources such as packing materials, newspaper, waxed paper and wrapping paper the sculptural forms dramatize the essential qualities of the chosen paper. Kelly explains, “I am interested in the physicality of the material and creating a physical gesture with it.” Meg Walker’s constructions use corrugated paper and cardboard to create works of “rural architecture.” The sculptures are based on the forms of traditional barns and farms buildings in America and in Great Britain. Walker says of these works, “they reflect my interest in our interaction with the landscape as well as the aesthetics and the politics of life in the country.”