DONNA DODSON: December 2013

Sunday, December 1, 2013

December News

The Tiger Mothers were exhibited on the Christian Science Plaza from May-Oct 2013 for Convergence: The Boston Sculptors Gallery 20th Anniversary exhibition. They moved to Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester New Hampshire in November to become part of the exciting new sculpture park that the curator, Debbie Disston is creating on campus. Hippo Press picked up the story, 'Hands, Tiger Mothers and the Space Within: SNHU hosts new sculptures with new stories.' They will be on view for a one year loan period. The Tiger Mothers are now standing guard in front of the admissions building, and delighting the campus community with their monumental scale and enigmatic, brightly colored forms. I thought alot about what the tribe of motherhood is, and the tiger stripes seemed like an appropriate metaphor in celebration of the stretch marks that all mothers bear in childbirth. Hence the reversed tiger stripes appear on each figure, along with my signature elbow length gloves. Red and black symbolize love and honor, respectively, since mother hood is a balancing act between those two core values.

Tiger Mothers, 2013, styrofoam, cement, paint, 8ftx4ftx4ft

Elephant Oracle won first prize in the Fruitlands Museum's annual art in Nature Competition. At the end of the exhibition in November, it moved to the Vernon Community Arts Center in Connecticut, where it will be on view for one year. The Elephant Oracle is the wise old one to whom we turn in times of confusion, doubt and indecision. The Elephant has a memory that never forgets. Perhaps it is a paradox that one who knows so much says so little. Yet, in its presence, we find the courage in ourselves to listen.

Elephant Oracle, 2013, styrofoam, cement, paint, 8'x4'x4'

Gray-suited and stodgy, frayed but grand, the Great Blue Heron is no bright flash. Elegantly poised, it stands perfectly still, nested in among the tall pine trees. ‘Poised,’ this 25 ft tall sapling and wire sculpture, headed South for the winter. It was recently exhibited on the Christian Science Plaza from May-Oct 2013 for Convergence: The Boston Sculptors Gallery 20th Anniversary exhibition. At the close of the show, The Myth Makers: Donna Dodson and Andy Moerlein sold this sculpture to a private collector in Kansas City Missouri and recently sited it on private property at the corner of Ward Parkway and Huntington Ave. Although technically a migrant, this great blue heron will be making a one way trip to live in a warmer climate. The Myth Makers are a collaborative team of sculptors who enjoy the physical and philosophical challenges of working together.

Poised, 25 ft tall, saplings, wire ties, 2013

Seagull Cinderella was on view at Milton Academy this fall, but she flew north for the winter, choosing to roost in a private sculpture park in Bow New Hampshire until warmer weather comes. Seagull Cinderella is as common as the birds we see at the beach. Yet she is uncommon, like Marilla in Anne of Green Gables, corseted and bound by the sweet virtues of her character. Sporting a full length, flower power gown, she is royally adorned. This sculpture is available for loan and/or purchase, so if you or someone you know is interested, please get in touch with me ASAP.

Seagull Cinderella, 2013, styrofoam, cement, paint, 8'x4'x4'

Boston Sculptors Gallery is having a Winter Holiday Pop-Up Show and Sale of Small Works December 17th-22nd. There will be an Opening Reception: December 18, 6 - 8 pm. Gallery Hours: Tuesday - Sunday 10 - 7 pm (extended hours all week long!). I will be exhibiting some small bronzes and 3D prints in addition to my catalogs, Elephant Parade and Flock Together. You can preview my work in the front windows now!

Arabian Allies, 8" ea, L to R: aluminum, aluminum bronze, bronze, copper, brass, gray iron

In February 2014 members of the Boston Sculptors Gallery together with a group of Peruvian artists will present Visions/Visiónes, in Cusco, Peru, in the Qorikancha Museum, Santo Domingo Convent. This Peruvian Convent and Museum are built on the foundation of one of the most important Inca temple sites near Machu Picchu. This show will be curated by Argentinian artist and Boston Sculptors Gallery member Nora Valdez. In December 2013-January 2014, I will be traveling to Peru to work in residence at the art school in Cusco alongside my colleagues at the Boston Sculptors Gallery and many notable Peruvian artists. My trip has been generously supported by an education grant from New Hampshire Wood Worker's Guild. Condorita is the beginning of what I hope to accomplish in Peru this winter in advance of the upcoming show.

Condorita, 23" tall, walnut 2013

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Artist Statement

‘My artwork celebrates the mystical relationship between human beings and the animal kingdom. Because there were no icons of women in the church that I grew up in, my vision is to create them. Through hybrid female-animal forms that I sculpt in wood, I flesh out sensuality, sexuality and soul with a well-proportioned figurative vocabulary. The natural grain of the wood interacts with the form and shape of my sculptures in a descriptive way, suggesting nostrils, and nipples or garments and fabric textures. I often stylize each piece to enhance the girl, woman, princess, queen or goddess within. The mouths, or in some cases beaks, are closed symbolizing the mysteries they embody. These figures are sculpted in sizes ranging from the intimate to the monumental. I use color in both subtle and bold ways to activate each piece. My inspiration comes from ancient iconography and mythological imagery.’

About

Donna Dodson has been carving images out of wood for nearly 20 years. Her sculptures explore feminine beauty and evoke humor and playfulness but also grace, power and emotional strength. Her unique vision responds to the relation of animals to the human spirit that have existed since ancient times. Her figures are almost always female and range in size from the intimate to the monumental.

Dodson’s pre-med studies and her passion for Egyptian art led her to study wood and stone sculpture. African sculptures and Native American totems also influence her work.

She uses logs of osage orange wood from her grandfather’s farm in Illinois, and ash, cherry, locust and maple from New England.

Dodson has worked in a series using an elephant headed goddess to explore female figureheads in positions of power. Recently, Dodson created large scale outdoor pieces, engaging in a public dialogue about her work. The site became a more prevalent theme. Today, Dodson has returned to creating statement pieces such as a cardinal goddess for the women of the Catholic Church who aspire to be ordained and Madam President- a monument to the first female president of the USA.

Bio

Donna Dodson is an American sculptor who has exhibited her artwork around the world. Dodson has completed successful residencies in Verbier Switzerland, Cusco Peru, Keelung Taiwan and Ringkoebing Denmark. Donna is currently a Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center and a Fellow at the St Botolph Club in Boston. Dodson’s recent show, “Sheroes” at the Boston Sculptors Gallery was met with critical acclaim. Donna was a 2022 Fulbright US Scholar at Q21/MuseumsQuartier in Vienna Austria working as an artist in residence with her host institution Tricky Women/Tricky Realities, the world’s only animation festival for women. Dodson has won grants from the Puffin Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, the New Hampshire Guild of Woodworkers and the George Sugarman Foundation. Her work is in the permanent collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame in St Louis Missouri, the Provincetown Art Museum, the Art Complex Museum and the Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts, The Noyes Art Museum in New Jersey and the Davistown Museum in Maine. Donna's work has been reviewed in the Boston Globe, Sculpture Magazine, The Daily Beast, Hyperallergic and Artnet. She is currently represented by the Abigail Ogilvy Gallery in Boston and Los Angeles. She is a former member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery. Dodson is a graduate of Wellesley College. Donna is a freelance writer whose articles in newspapers, magazines and blogs demonstrate the economic impact and global reach of the Boston arts sector. Her recent paper, “What do we call courageous women” was presented at the Society for Classical Studies annual meeting in 2022 and was published in Queering the Amazons a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies.

Inspirations

"There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in."

-Leonard Cohen

"... I think one's art goes only as far and as deep as [one's] love goes..."

-Andrew Wyeth

"art is valuable because it challenges, inspires, and enables us to see ourselves in much more interesting ways"
-Mickey Cartin

" the thing that I had to do was to ... work super hard in the hope that someday it would pay off. And in using that term I don't mean necessarily money, but just the fact that I would have more depth and dimension both as a human being and as an artist."
-Ed Paschke

“Fashion is what seems beautiful now but looks ugly later; art can be ugly at first but it becomes beautiful later.”
-Steve Jobs

"...remember that collecting art is an act of love. It isn’t about what you pay for a work, or how rich (or not) you become when you one day sell it, but the depth of your enjoyment in the time you live with it."
-Abigail R. Esman

"[Patronage] is a gift, in the form of money, in exchange for [my] gift, in the form of music."

-Amanda Palmer

"Art is the crucial interface between the imagination and reality, the thing that makes life deeper and broader than what it might be without such insight."

-Todd Levin

"If they hadn't told me I was ugly, I would never have searched for my beauty."

-Gabourey Sidibe

"Never grow a wishbone, daughter, where your backbone ought to be."

-Clementine Paddleford

Great artists “must be shaken by the naked truths that will not be comforted. This divine discontent, this disequilibrium, this state of inner tension is the source of artistic energy.”

-Humphrey Trevelyan

"Life should be lived so vividly and intensely that thoughts of another life or of a longer life are not necessary."

-Marjory Stoneman Douglas

“When people say that poetry is a luxury, I suspect that the people doing the saying have had things pretty easy. A tough life needs a tough language - and that is what poetry is.” Jeannette Winterson

Artistic Process

When I start a piece of work I need to evoke such a strong feeling about each piece that I can dare to listen to the piece, to make mistakes - to just create. It is the emotional investment in the act of creation that crystallizes the work for me.

Sometimes the idea or concept comes first, and I imagine what the piece will be when completed. More often I work from intuition. Once completed I see the intentions behind the piece, or the desire from which it is born. Artists who inspire me include Jessica Stockholder and Katharina Fritsch. Stockholder uses color as a transformational visual device, changing the way we see form. Fritsch creates sculptures of sacred figures that become pop-icons through her use of color. In the same way I work with various kinds and grains of wood accented by color.

My artwork is about self expression, autobiography, and self redemption. Each sculpture is independent and heroic, but each is connected to the body of my total work. Each is made greater and honored by its association with those that have preceded it, but keeps its own sacred identity. Each reflects my realization that I am a self-made woman.

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Sunday, December 1, 2013

December News