DONNA DODSON: April 2022

Monday, April 25, 2022

Fulbright US Scholar

Donna Dodson, an artist from Maynard, Massachusetts, has received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program award in the Visual Arts for the 2021-2022 academic year from the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Dodson is one of over 800 U.S. citizens who will conduct research or teach abroad for the 2020-2021 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program. With the support of Fulbright Austria, Donna will work as an artist in residence at Q21/Museums Quartier with her host institution Tricky Women/Tricky Realities, the world's first and only digital animation festival for women. She will complete the project "Amazons, Goddesses and Wonder Women," by translating her wood sculptures into digital avatars and writing the script in collaboration with Trina Baker, an award-winning animator and Maynard artist. Both Dodson and Baker have been awarded grants from several Massachusetts Cultural Councils for this project. In particular, The Maynard Cultural Council is proud to have contributed seed money to launch this international project.

“Donna's sculptures are elegantly crafted in wood at her art studio in Maynard. She met Baker at Artspace Maynard which plays a critical role as a connecting place and arts hub for the community where projects such as this one happen. Using cutting edge technology, this world class collaborative project between Dodson and Baker embodies the highest ideals of the Maynard community, and we are proud of her and grateful to the Fulbright Commission for her selection as a U.S. Scholar," Maynard Cultural Council chair Sara Lundberg said.

Fulbrighters engage in cutting-edge research and expand their professional networks, often continuing research collaborations started abroad and laying the groundwork for forging future partnerships between institutions. Upon returning to their home countries, institutions, labs, and classrooms, they share their stories. They often become active supporters of international exchange, inviting foreign scholars to campus, and encouraging colleagues and students to go abroad. As Fulbright Scholar alumni, their careers are enriched by joining a network of thousands of esteemed scholars, many of whom are leaders in their fields. Fulbright alumni include 60 Nobel Prize laureates, 88 Pulitzer Prize recipients, and 37 who have served as a head of state or government. Fubrighters address critical global challenges in all disciplines while building relationships, knowledge, and leadership in support of the long-term interests of the United States.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government. Designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries, counter misunderstandings, and help people and nations work together toward common goals. Since 1946, the Fulbright Program has enabled more than 390,000 diverse, dedicated and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers, and professionals to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and solve shared international concerns. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State. Participating governments and host institutions, corporations, and foundations worldwide also provide direct and indirect support to the Program, which operates in more than 160 countries worldwide.

In the United States, the Institute of International Education supports implementing the Fulbright U.S. Student Program on behalf of the U.S. Department of State, including conducting an annual competition for the scholarships. For more information about the Fulbright Program, visit http://eca.state.gov/fulbright.

Update: Tessa Venell, Office of the Vice Provost for Research, published an in depth article on my forthcoming Fulbright project on June 10, 2021, "Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center Announces Fulbright Award for 2021-2022." Josh Idaszak, Office of Communications & Public Affairs at Wellesley College, published a profile of my upcoming Fulbright project along with other alums from my alma mater, on August 17, 2021, "Wellesley’s 2021-22 Fulbrights Prepare to Launch into the World." Listen to the Ladies Knight podcast with Jen Shahade featuring Donna Dodson LK036, Nov 18, 2021. Watch a recording of the Brandeis University Women's Studies Research Center's Fall lecture on Dec 2, 2021, "Damsel in Charge: Inventing a Powerful Female Stereotype," with Fulbright US Scholar, Donna Dodson engaged in conversation with award-winning animator Trina Baker on their joint collaboration where Dodson's Amazon warrior sculptures are translated into three-dimensional digital characters in a short animation with the assistance of Brandeis Student Scholar partners, Cyrenity Augustin and Pilar Duvivier, and Lesley University interns, Lexy Saunders, Aimee Ham and Siana DiGregorio. Watch a recording of my recent presentation on Jan 6, 2022 "What Do We Call Courageous Women" for the session "Queer Representations and Receptions of Amazons" at the Society of Classical Studies/Archaeological Institute of America joint annual meeting

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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 Resident Scholar at the Brandeis University Women’s Studies Research Center and a Visual Art Fellow at the St Botolph Club in Boston. Dodson’s recent show, “The Amazons Among Us” 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 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 a member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery, the nation’s only sculpture cooperative that maintains its own gallery space. Dodson is a graduate of Wellesley College. She enjoys public speaking, and has been a guest speaker at conferences throughout North America. Donna is a freelance writer whose articles in newspapers, magazines and blogs demonstrate the economic impact and global reach of the arts sector. Her recent paper, “What do we call courageous women” was presented at the Society for Classical Studies annual meeting in 2022 and is pending publication in a special issue of the Journal of Lesbian Studies, Queering the Amazons.

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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Monday, April 25, 2022

Fulbright US Scholar