What is the possibility that objects can reveal healing evidence? The sculptural objects I create depict fragmented spiritual acts of loss and transformation. For me, these acts include gardening, restoration, and acceptance. At the intersection of grief and joy, the work acknowledges the passing of time through a personal narrative permeated with everyday objects. Healing evidence is proof of acceptance. It acknowledges pain through story and metaphor and makes use of what’s within reach (i.e. memory, disposables). If it were a color, it would be green. Healing evidence may leave traces of superstition in terms of belief or symbology.
Appreciating ordinary moments from the kitchen, backyard, and nearby, I am investigating what it means to recycle both memory and material as a way to identify a pattern and distill an environment that exists beyond the studio. For instance, the temporal qualities of food, plants, and dirt coalesce with memory and it’s decomposition. By primarily focusing on imagery from the outdoors that exist in small home gardens, I’m exploring the humor and playful qualities of creating a backyard sanctuary which will not protect me from the outside world but it may have the power to temporarily. Superstition exists here through reframing and cultivating hope. (If I build a birdhouse, perhaps my loved ones can revisit me in bird form. If they can’t, I will still welcome the warbler, the chickadee and the sparrow.)
Taussen Brewer is an artist living and working in Kingston, New York. She grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and received her BFA from Alfred University. Taussen has exhibited her work regionally in Oklahoma and New York. She is the recipient of several awards like the Lisa Elwell Ceramic Artist Endowed Encouragement Award. She is also an active member in community arts organization through groups like Dog Park, a small member run art space that offers visibility to young artists.
