The Heart of All
Description/Abstract/Artist Statement
Artist Statement
The Heart of All is an elaborate piece has been a passion project for essentially an entire semester as a means of expressing various subject matters encompassing life around us that I find fascinating and various mediums to express this. I feel that tables are where many people contemplate life and have the best conversations with other people, so I felt that expressing what I am passionate about in sculpture would make sense if it were expressed on a carved table. This work contains an anatomically correct human heart in the middle of the piece which is filled with native animals to Virginia, where I have always lived, and they are used as a substitute for arrows to show blood flow. Along the table there are carvings of neurons, adenosine triphosphate, bacteria, viruses, spider webs and bee hives, amniotic eggs, important fossils, and other aspects of biology. I experimented with various carving techniques, such as in the round with the salamander and heart, as well as shallow relief carving in the table top itself. Though all the techniques seem to be unlinked, I thought that would make sense with science in general, so much seems loosely if at all connected, yet it all is even if it is a lose connection. I wanted to show inspirations from many different artists and naturalists in this table, such as Ernst Haeckel’s elaborate prints, Charles Darwin’s notes, Leonardo DaVinci’s notes, as well as some elaborate renaissance wood carvings like those of Tilman Riemenschneider. Biology for me is just as large of an influence as art, and on this table it felt liberating to utilize both aspects with the more artistic liberties than I have had in the past.
Faculty Advisor/Mentor
Elliott Jones
Presentation Type
Artwork
Disciplines
Sculpture
Session Title
Art Exhibit
Location
Learning Commons @ Perry Library, Art Gallery
Start Date
2-8-2020 8:00 AM
End Date
2-8-2020 12:30 PM
The Heart of All
Learning Commons @ Perry Library, Art Gallery
Artist Statement
The Heart of All is an elaborate piece has been a passion project for essentially an entire semester as a means of expressing various subject matters encompassing life around us that I find fascinating and various mediums to express this. I feel that tables are where many people contemplate life and have the best conversations with other people, so I felt that expressing what I am passionate about in sculpture would make sense if it were expressed on a carved table. This work contains an anatomically correct human heart in the middle of the piece which is filled with native animals to Virginia, where I have always lived, and they are used as a substitute for arrows to show blood flow. Along the table there are carvings of neurons, adenosine triphosphate, bacteria, viruses, spider webs and bee hives, amniotic eggs, important fossils, and other aspects of biology. I experimented with various carving techniques, such as in the round with the salamander and heart, as well as shallow relief carving in the table top itself. Though all the techniques seem to be unlinked, I thought that would make sense with science in general, so much seems loosely if at all connected, yet it all is even if it is a lose connection. I wanted to show inspirations from many different artists and naturalists in this table, such as Ernst Haeckel’s elaborate prints, Charles Darwin’s notes, Leonardo DaVinci’s notes, as well as some elaborate renaissance wood carvings like those of Tilman Riemenschneider. Biology for me is just as large of an influence as art, and on this table it felt liberating to utilize both aspects with the more artistic liberties than I have had in the past.