Follies:The Architecture of Memory

Artist Statement

This current body of work explores the architecture of memory.  As more and more people struggle with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and memory loss, I find that architectural structures become natural metaphors for the structure of creating, and eventually losing, memories. 

Through a variety of materials- clay, steel, sticks, stones, spices, fruit peels, and fibers- I have made architectural models that embody a narrative process of remembering and forgetting.  The clay works are models of follies or cenotaphs, empty tombs that commemorate the deceased.  Traditionally found on estates in England and France, the follies were constructed to resemble Roman ruins. The steel pieces reflect control and precise order, with their welded arch structures, ceramic, copper, and brass symbolic tokens, and hints of deterioration.  The sticks and fiber pieces evoke connections to the past through sensory associative properties. Memories that are formed early in life, when our brains are young and receptive, become a network of branches with tenuous connections.

The small scale keeps each piece personal, allowing the viewer to get close to it, while simultaneously imagining the object on a monumental scale.  Though each piece is predominately constructed of a single material, they share ancillary materials, just as our memories link to form our complex personalities. Use of these materials such as stones (suggesting hardened, rigid concepts), fruit peels (evoking once protective membranes, now withered), and spices (conjuring associative scents), add to the dialogue of each work. As I combine these disparate materials, I consider their relationship to each other and to myself, with the intention of creating a memory that commemorates the moment the sculpture is created.

Arc de' Triomphe for Alma  
Steel and porcelain  
73/4" x 8" x 5 7/8"  
2015  

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Temple of Philosophy
Stoneware
5" x5.2" x 6"
2015

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Arch of Offering
Steel and copper
12.25" x 9.6" x 8"
2015

Familial Relationships
Stoneware and stone
6.5" x 4.3" x 4.75"
2015

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Guided Path
Stoneware, steel, and copper
1.5" x 6.25" x 3.5"
2015

Isolated Folly  
Steel, glass, grout and porcelain  
2.25" x 10.25" x 8.25"  
2015 

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