Artist's Statement

Abstract

Wild Apples (The Fruit of Labour) (2021)

Sculpture Bronze approx. 2.5”x3”x2.5” each (15 apples total). Created from 15 found wild apples with the sand-casting method.

Centred around the acts of noticing and observation, my work blurs the line between the natural and the human-made. My sculptures, as objects made by human hands, appear to be something else, something natural and wild that requires a closer look, and perhaps a second look. Noticing, finding, and selecting are very personal acts that reflect how we each see the world. I am drawn to the natural environments that surround me: the local parks and trails, the forests of rural Ontario. I notice and collect natural objects that are often overlooked or are too big and strange to seem real. Through an act of transformation, I recreate these objects in stone, bronze, and plaster. I make objects that have physicality and presence from natural objects, which are inherently temporary and transient.

As an object maker, I create valuable objects out of things that are considered worthless and useless to many. A wrinkly wild apple is worthless, an overgrown (bracket fungus) shelf mushroom is useless, a fallen horse chestnut is something to be ignored. By recreating these objects in sculpture, I tread the thin line between the real and unreal, the natural and human-made. The nature of these objects must be discovered by the viewer. The viewer must discern whether they are real and whether they have any value.

“They can’t be real.”

“I thought they were real.” (Audience responses to my work.)