Associate Artist:
Emily Snedden
A terrifying and exciting memory of the summertime game Wolf (or Ghost) inspires this work as a narrative of my family tradition. We played our hide and seek game each summer until every participating adult became too old and broken to run and yell. The work is a memorial to the peak summer years of life as well as the summers that we played as children.
I find there is a profound intimacy in the pillows that we use. The evidential markings of our tendencies are read in a personalization of a pillow's form and surface
By removing the domestic object from its inherent, utilitarian environment and appropriating its traditional form in a new material, I suggest an examination of the pillow as memoir.
Displaying domestic objects in a gallery setting is a strong motivation to explore their function in a symbolic context. Pillows are broadly recognized as comforting objects, as they evoke an unequivocal sense of ease that is the promise of sleep and comfort. A pillow caters its shape to accommodate human form as it supplements our curves to fill the space between bed and body. Even when the body is removed, the impression of its weight remains sculpted in the folds of the pillow's fabric and filling. This close relationship that the body shares with a pillow transfers a human quality to the pillow's form, as if the user is illustrated in his or her pillow. Using porcelain to fabricate this concept petrifies a typically malleable form into an immortalization of its (last) user. This structure will never create a new memory.
The topical treatment of the pillows is illustrated with drawings to represent a physical touch and personal narrative. The thread eases the transition between fabric and clay, as it softens the surface visually and literally.
These structures are fitted for individuals, to define crutches and comforts in recognition of a personal need.
