series descriptions & image lists
Please click on thumbnails for larger images.
Pricing available upon request: kmw@weber.name
anatomy of blood and bones
2004 – present
| Thirty-six Pieces of Night 2006 Burial Sequence (work in progress) 2006 – Three Bones (to pick) 2006 Ascension (detail of work in progress) 2005 – Three Aspects of the Whole 2005 A Long Winter 2005 All Things Equal 2005 Careful Observation 2005 To Hold 2004 Offering I 2004 Offering II 2004 Closely Held 2004 Sketch for Offering I and II 2004 Please click on thumbnails |
In 2004 I began experimenting with thinner vessels composed entirely of glass powders and frit. The delicacy of the resulting pieces was perfectly suited to my growing fascination with snow and ice and maintaining our place above the frozen veil of nothingness. The delicacy also mirrored the fragile status I sensed that I and others I love maintained in this world. The Anatomy of Blood and Bones series evolved out of trying to understand and manage a chronic hematological malignancy on a personal basis and witnessing those I love deal with similar trials over time. Bones, blood, and hearts were among the shared concerns in my small circle. At times the human form is stripped to bare bones revealing the sturdy structure that can betray but still allow us to keep moving through life’s strong currents. Wing structures grew more visually bone- and knifelike; serving as protective soul carriers. In time, aspects of anatomy came to represent the people I knew, our souls, and conditions affecting our lives. The ability of a single part to function as a proxy for the whole was personally revealing as well as opening up additional understandings into the work. It would be hard not to acknowledge that many symbolic and iconographic aspects of human anatomy are part of a powerful, cross-cultural language; particularly blood, bones and the human heart. Being able to comprehend and graciously accept Death’s inevitable arrival is often slow in coming to any of us. Regardless of whether it occurs due to physical calamity or the proverbial bus, flinching away from contemplating death is all too common and very American. Acknowledging death’s place in life is the backbone for this collection of works.
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flying souls | animals and insects
2005 – present
| Dark Night for Little Birds 2007 Northwoods Trio 2006 August Afternoon 2006 2006 Pilchuck on Display: An Exhibition of International Glass Art & Pilchuck School 28th Annual Auction; live section (juried) Pollen Dance 2005- 2006 Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Exhibition; 2nd in Ceramics/Glass category (juried) Bluejay's Dark Thoughts 2005 Winter Hunters 2005 Mid-August Wooly Bear 2005 Nine Winter Songs 2005 2005 Pilchuck on Display: An Exhibition of International Glass Art & Pilchuck School 27th Annual Auction; silent section (juried) Morning Warbler 2005 Please click on thumbnails |
For roughly a decade, wings have visually carried the significance of soul throughout my work, the essence of what keeps humans aloft. As a result, I found myself looking at a considerable number of birds and insects trying to understand the essence of wings and the ability to rise above the earth. What would carry a soul without simply pasting “angel wings” on a figure? The more I learned about these air-borne beings, the more it seemed they were not too dissimilar from humans in behavior or in basic needs: Their ancient, ingrained behaviors match so many human rituals. Their rich, beautiful color and pattern signals the other to come in close or stay away. Their sweet songs mark the edges of brutally enforced territorial boundaries or the promise of nestlings. Robert Browning wrote, “What are the voices of birds, but words, /Our words, only some much more sweet?” I have come to regard these vessels as actual spaces for a quiet kind of connection with the creatures depicted. The soft luminance quietly pays heed to the life force of the small being nested within the glass. To create one or to hold one is to think about something outside of humankind and to consider our relationship to that living being. Each work is a physical manifestation of contemplating humans' relationship to the collected force of Nature.
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dear bones
2005 – present
| Requiem (prototype) 2006 - Deer Bones 2006 Please click on thumbnails |
This is a very new body of work based upon photographs taken in 2005. My husband and I spent a long weekend at a northern Minnesota cabin where deer carcasses had been left to draw the local wolf pack in closer for “photo opportunities.” I was captivated by the bones as I was by the ice. The ice struck me as such a perfect metaphor for maintaining a fragile balance. This was all brought into sharp focus during my experiences when treading on the partially frozen pond. Transfixed by how much the surface looked and felt like glass, I kept moving towards the center of the pond where the ice shifts to a deeper hue. When the surface suddenly shuddered, I wondered if it I had finally reached the edge of late winter ice where it easily breaks: the precarious state between remaining above the crystalline veil and breaking through it into the dark, unforgiving water below. The experience was simultaneously exhilarating and utterly terrifying; an instance when everything teetered on the brink. We returned the following winter, and seeking the same communion with the glass-like surface, I ventured out on to the frozen crust over the same body of water. The ice did more than shudder. I found myself immersed in deep muck, mind-numbingly cold water, and ice shards, and wondering whether or not I would be able to pull myself out above it all and thinking, “ What a horribly apt metaphor for the past few years.” I am curious to see where this work will lead conceptually and aesthetically.
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anima | falling from grace
1997 – 2003
| I Have: A Heart, Awareness, Dreams that Burn 2003 Connections 2002-2003 Holding Heart 2002-2003 Figure Study 2002 Icarus Sleeping: Repose 2002 Icarus Sleeping: Anima 2002 Icarus Sleeping: Bared 2002 Suspended Fall 2002 Phoenix Bowl 2001-2002 Hanging Heart 2002 Three Blows 2002 Exposed Red Fall 2002 Resurrection Vessel 1997 Phoenix Vessel 1997 Please click on thumbnails above for larger images
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The Falling from Grace series reflects upon various states of being during the search for balance, self, and soul. I believe that if you look closely at any of our lives, you can find a story of falling from grace and a difficult struggle to ascend to a new sense of balance and self. The fall and ascension can be physical, emotional, or spiritual in nature, brought on by our own actions or circumstances completely outside of our control. But it is usually there, ranging from an event that lasts less than second to an all-consuming nightmare. In this series, wings visually carry the significance of soul; the essence of what keeps humans aloft. Elemental colors mirror choices, contrasts, and ends of the spectrum that each of us must continually bring into balance. Various vessel and visual forms serve as a metaphor for “body as soul or spirit holder.” Each piece reflects different aspects of the journey from the point we lose our wings and fall out of the world as we know it, to the moment we emerge in a newly forged state of awareness. How the psyche or soul is contained or displayed to the outside world during this journey becomes an interesting question in its own right: Is it hidden, cradled, or openly offered? The intricate relationship between body and soul in the course of a human life is also a driving force behind my work. Separating a visual discussion of the soul and self from the body addresses only a portion of whom we are. The human figure and anatomy is the most natural, direct means of capturing a fall from grace -- the kind that can strip the psyche to bare bones as well as expose the light within. Glass is uniquely able to convey and carry these very human activities; our life-long attempt to achieve “beautiful balance.”
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