So now that Chthonic is installed, I have a little room to share what the making of this work was like. It really was the best year of my life, all the way around. I feel so lucky to have had it. All I did was make work, assemble food for my family, sleep with a cat under the covers, and start again. I was fortunate that I could take a semester off of teaching to make it happen. And that my family is not bothered by the filth we clearly live in. Anyway, here are some images of the sculpture Lumber in process in my studio over a period of months.

I worked with another artist friend to build the skeletons. We started with 1” conduit pipe that I bent into the gesture. The pipe then actually goes into an electrical box and is set with a screw. At the ground, the conduit comes into a drilled 2x4” that has been secured to plywood. Then we set screws through the 2x4” to the pipe. It worked pretty slick! She took up nearly the width of my studio. I did not plan well.

And getting her through the door was a whole other thing! Luckily I had handy, thoughtful helpers who kept me from freaking out. We removed the horizontal floor braces, turned her on her side so she was a U, and then threaded her through the door! Now she is hanging at Mia!