Swell

2012
Gordon Snelgrove Gallery, Saskatoon, SK

My work "Soft Crystal and Ladder” is inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ "Maman".  I created a “bowl” that suggested the ceiling of a cave.  As it evolved, “Soft Crystal” developed a breast-like shape and formed into "bikini like tops", creating a layering of protections. These bikini cups, reference the breast; the first form of protection, nourishment and nurturance for the child. 

My intention was to create a structure that would move light and create a work of shadow on the ceiling and wall.  From a distance, the bikinis also resemble sleeping bats.  Originally, I wanted the structure to be a cave, a pre-birth chamber, a place where we as babies sleep without fear.  Like Bourgeois, I see that often the thing that nurtures can also be a thing to be feared, and the thing that nurtures also has to be nurtured.  All of these are part of the web.