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    Maria Nepomuceno’s Mixed-Media Sculptures Writhe with Ancient Symbolism

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    “Untitled” (2025), ceramics, strings, necklace beads, and wood, 39 3/8 x 34 5/8 x 11 3/4 inches. All images courtesy of the artist and Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, New York, shared with permission

    Maria Nepomuceno’s Mixed-Media Sculptures Writhe with Ancient Symbolism

    August 22, 2025

    Art

    Kate Mothes

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    Through millennia of artistic expression and within the natural world, the ubiquitous spiral continues to mesmerize. In ancient traditions, the form often represents cycles. The triskele, for example, consists of three interlocking spirals thought to symbolize death, life, and rebirth or the triad of mind, body, and spirit. Spirals also emerge naturally in seashells and plants, sometimes linked to the concept of the golden mean, also known as the “divine ratio.”

    For Maria Nepomuceno, the spiral’s occurrence in nature—along with its spiritual significance relating to time and energy in perpetual flow—underpins a vibrant multimedia practice. Her forthcoming exhibition, Cunhó, which opens next month at Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, emphasizes abundance. Iconographic references to female anatomy, jars, ceramic vessels, baskets, and seashells—the latter of which are emblematic of fertility and wealth—emphasize flourishing interactions and growth.

    “Abraçaço” (2025), strings, necklace beads, straw, ceramics, resin, and wood, 59 x 50 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches

    A made-up word, Cunhó takes its title from a nickname Nepomuceno’s mother gave to her. Employing traditional Brazilian craftsmanship, the artist creates undulating forms that hang on the wall or nestle into the juncture where perpendicular surfaces meet. Her sculptures are simultaneously soft and firm, meandering and structured. From a distance, they can be alternately read like magnified, amorphous, biological cells or what the gallery describes as vast “macrocosmic landscapes.”

    Whorling beaded and woven forms envelop pearlescent bottle gourds or evoke tropical flowers with prominent stamens. In “Abraçaço,” for example, which in Portuguese means “hug” or “embrace,” a faceless female figure with a serpentine tongue encircles a large white shell and other amorphous shapes with long, slender arms. Other pieces, like “Mar Amor,” evoke an ouroboros, an ancient symbol usually consisting of a snake or dragon eating its own tail, which represents self-creation, interconnection, and eternal cycles.

    Incorporating ceramics, wood, beads, straw, string, and other found materials, Nepomuceno merges the organic and inorganic in shapeshifting pieces that represent a continuous cycle of reproduction, nourishment, plenitude, and care.

    Cunhó runs from September 2 to October 11 in New York City. Explore more by the artist on Instagram.

    Detail of “Abraçaço”

    “Mar Amor” (2025), strings, necklace beads, resin, and wood, 42 1/2 x 41 3/8 x 9 7/8 inches

    “Planta desejo” (2025), wood, straw, necklace beads, resin, string, and ceramic, 74 3/4 x 68 7/8 x 65 inches

    Detail of “Planta desejo”

    “Lingua Espiral” (2025), string, beads, wood, glass, fabric, paint, and ceramics, 59 x 65 x 13 3/4 inches

    “Untitled” (2025), necklace beads, straw, ceramic, and resin, 35 3/8 x 27 1/2 x 11 3/4 inches

    “Untitled” (2025), strings, necklace beads, wood, paper, and resin, 51 1/8 x 35 3/8 x 11 3/4 inches

    “Untitled” (2025), braided straw, necklace beads, ceramics, and resin, 55 1/8 x 45 1/4 x 23 5/8 inches

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      In Milwaukee, Four Artists Unravel Trauma to Move Toward Collective Wellness

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      Swoon, “Medea” (2017), wood, hand cut paper, laser cut paper, linoleum block print on paper, acrylic gouache, cardboard, lighting elements

      In Milwaukee, Four Artists Unravel Trauma to Move Toward Collective Wellness

      August 21, 2025

      ArtColossalSocial Issues

      Grace Ebert

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      In a world riddled with injustice and predicated on privilege for the few at the expense of the many, what does it mean to be well? An exhibition opening Friday at the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee considers the effects of concealed trauma and the inextricable ties between personal health and collective wellness.

      No One Knows All It Takes invites four artists—Bryana Bibbs, Raoul Deal, Maria Gaspar, and Swoon (previously)—who utilize art-making to grapple with complex emotions, imagine solutions to widespread problems, and share their stories and those of others. The timely exhibition, curated by Colossal, brings forth pressing issues like addiction, incarceration, immigration, and a lack of support for caregivers, conveyed through visually arresting works across media.

      Bryana Bibbs, “1.25.24-1.26.24” (2024), handwoven Papa George hospital blanket, Papa George playing cards, gifted pants, 11.5 x 14.5 inches

      No One Knows All It Takes opens with portraits by Deal, intimate renderings made through hours of conversations with the subjects. Paired with his wooden sculptures, the elaborate carvings explore the central role of immigration in American history and culture. Bibbs’ weavings and monotype prints—created while she cared for her dying grandparents with many of their belongings— follow as a sort of ghostly archive of what remains after death.

      Swoon’s “Medea” fills the fourth gallery space, a deeply personal installation that the artist made, in part, to confront her mother’s lifelong struggle with addiction and mental illness. An exposed tarantula mother, portraits of Swoon’s own family, wooden windows, and audio elements layer personal artifacts with recurring motifs about intergenerational trauma.

      The Wisconsin iteration of Gaspar’s Disappearance Jail series tucks into a smaller, more confined space at the end of the exhibition. Featuring images of 113 prisons, jails, and juvenile and immigrant detention facilities throughout the state, the project invites visitors to use hole punches to literally remove and obscure the carceral spaces. Because incarceration has historically been the only manner in which society addresses harm and trauma, Gaspar’s work tasks each person with the abolitionist exercise of imagining other possibilities.

      Raoul Deal, “Trenzas” (2023), woodcut with deckled edge, 28 x 42 inches

      The title, No One Knows All It Takes, came from a conversation with Bibbs, in which she described the emotional, mental, and physical toll of caring for her grandparents in their final months. Referencing the intersecting and multilayered effects of trauma, the phrase is also multivalent: it invokes the immense amount of energy needed to function while ill, the wide-reaching impacts of trauma on an individual’s life, and the social, political, and cultural costs of unaddressed issues.

      No One Knows All It Takes will be on view from August 22 to December 20. The Haggerty Museum of Art is located at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

      Maria Gaspar, Disappearance Jail series (detail), (2021-ongoing), hundreds of perforated archival Inkjet prints on rice paper, 5 x 7 inches each

      Raoul Deal, “Immigration Series #8” (2013), woodcut, 40 x 26 1/4 inches

      Swoon, “Medea” (2017), wood, hand cut paper, laser cut paper, linoleum block print on paper, acrylic gouache, cardboard, lighting elements

      Bryana Bibbs, “12.27.23” (2023), handwoven Papa George casino playing cards, Papa George hospital blanket, 14 x 9.25 inches

      Bryana Bibbs, “8.26.24” (2024), handwoven Papa George athletic tee, Papa George gifted pajama pants, Mema decor flowers, 25 x 9 inches

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    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels

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      “The Weary Weaver” (2024), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 28.4 x 28.4 incjes. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. All images courtesy of Xanthe Summers, shared with permission

      Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels

      August 7, 2025

      ArtCraftSocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      “Clay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,” says Xanthe Summers, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called “women’s work” like cleaning, mending, working with textiles, and caregiving. When it comes to clay, she says, “I think mostly I am invigorated by its ability to hold—to hold water, to hold function, to give shape, to carry stories, and to carry meaning.”

      Currently based in London, Summers grew up in Zimbabwe, where she observed inequities within the social structure that mirror many places around the world, especially in terms of gendered labor within the domestic sphere that often goes largely unseen and unacknowledged.

      “Common Threads” (2025), glazed stoneware, 23.6 x 21.7 x 21.7 inches

      She explains that “many homes have cleaners and gardeners who exist within this ‘invisible’ framework: caring for children, cooking their meals, and sometimes traveling for hours—and their work is underpaid, undervalued, and considered unskilled.”

      Summers taps into ceramics, especially the archetypal vessel motif, to join the ever-evolving continuum of the medium. Throughout millennia and across myriad distinct cultures, the earthen material has found endless applications in the home, industry, and art.

      “Clay has the unique ability to cross the boundaries between functionality, art, craft, class, and culture, and because of this, it is a vital medium to hold stories about humankind,” she says. “I understand clay to be an archive for the stories of humans.”

      The vessels often take on figurative proportions, standing tall on plinths and exhibiting saturated hues, bold patterns, and tactile textures. Some of the pieces crumple, especially toward the top, as if hit with something or caving under some invisible weight.

      Installation view at Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Southern Guild

      The artist’s vessels tread the boundary between form and function and delve into another craft often associated with women’s labor: weaving. She describes how everything from the sheets we sleep on to the carpets we tread across to the clothes on our back can be “extrapolated to speak more broadly about domesticity, women’s work, and racialized spaces in Zimbabwe and the Global South.” She adds:

      Weaving can be used as a wider metaphor for social cohesion—or lack thereof. This predicament is significant in Zimbabwe but is apparent the world over, where women’s work is undervalued.

      Next year, Summers embarks on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a residency at Ceramica Suro, where she will learn from local ceramic artists, glassblowers, and weavers. And this October, you’ll be able to see her work at London’s 1-54, a fair dedicated to contemporary African art, which runs from October 16 to 19. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Woven Tales Stand Tall” (2022). Photo by Deniz Guzel

      Detail of “Woven Tales Stand Tall.” Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “By the Pricking of My Thumbs” (2025), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps

      “Working Class Femininity” (2023), glazed stoneware, 41 x 19.8 x 19.8 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “Weaver’s Woe” (2024,), glazed stoneware, 22.4 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “Of Woof and Woe” (2024), glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps

      Xanthe Summers in her studio

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    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Xanthe Somers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels

      by

      “The Weary Weaver” (2024), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 28.4 x 28.4 incjes. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps. All images courtesy of Xanthe Summers, shared with permission

      Xanthe Somers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels

      August 7, 2025

      ArtCraftSocial Issues

      Kate Mothes

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      “Clay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,” says Xanthe Somers, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called “women’s work” like cleaning, mending, working with textiles, and caregiving. When it comes to clay, she says, “I think mostly I am invigorated by its ability to hold—to hold water, to hold function, to give shape, to carry stories, and to carry meaning.”

      Currently based in London, Somers grew up in Zimbabwe, where she observed inequities within the social structure that mirror many places around the world, especially in terms of gendered labor within the domestic sphere that often goes largely unseen and unacknowledged.

      “Common Threads” (2025), glazed stoneware, 23.6 x 21.7 x 21.7 inches

      She explains that “many homes have cleaners and gardeners who exist within this ‘invisible’ framework: caring for children, cooking their meals, and sometimes traveling for hours—and their work is underpaid, undervalued, and considered unskilled.”

      Somers taps into ceramics, especially the archetypal vessel motif, to join the ever-evolving continuum of the medium. Throughout millennia and across myriad distinct cultures, the earthen material has found endless applications in the home, industry, and art.

      “Clay has the unique ability to cross the boundaries between functionality, art, craft, class, and culture, and because of this, it is a vital medium to hold stories about humankind,” she says. “I understand clay to be an archive for the stories of humans.”

      The vessels often take on figurative proportions, standing tall on plinths and exhibiting saturated hues, bold patterns, and tactile textures. Some of the pieces crumple, especially toward the top, as if hit with something or caving under some invisible weight.

      Installation view at Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Southern Guild

      The artist’s vessels tread the boundary between form and function and delve into another craft often associated with women’s labor: weaving. She describes how everything from the sheets we sleep on to the carpets we tread across to the clothes on our back can be “extrapolated to speak more broadly about domesticity, women’s work, and racialized spaces in Zimbabwe and the Global South.” She adds:

      Weaving can be used as a wider metaphor for social cohesion—or lack thereof. This predicament is significant in Zimbabwe but is apparent the world over, where women’s work is undervalued.

      Next year, Somers embarks on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a residency at Ceramica Suro, where she will learn from local ceramic artists, glassblowers, and weavers. And this October, you’ll be able to see her work at London’s 1-54, a fair dedicated to contemporary African art, which runs from October 16 to 19. Explore more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “Woven Tales Stand Tall” (2022). Photo by Deniz Guzel

      Detail of “Woven Tales Stand Tall.” Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “By the Pricking of My Thumbs” (2025), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps

      “Working Class Femininity” (2023), glazed stoneware, 41 x 19.8 x 19.8 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “Weaver’s Woe” (2024,), glazed stoneware, 22.4 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel

      “Of Woof and Woe” (2024), glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps

      Xanthe Summers in her studio

      Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member now, and support independent arts publishing.

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      Get 15% off in the Colossal Shop

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    • 125 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Caio Marcolini Weaves Delicate Metal Mesh into Spawning Cellular Sculptures

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      All images courtesy of Caio Marcolini, shared with permission

      Caio Marcolini Weaves Delicate Metal Mesh into Spawning Cellular Sculptures

      May 9, 2025

      Art

      Grace Ebert

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      Caio Marcolini’s fascination with organic systems began simply enough. It was “the trail left by the sea on the sand, the intertwined roots of trees within the forest, (and) the flowers falling from trees” that he found enchanting. But then, when his first child was born in 2021, he began investigating how these same winding, looping, knotted patterns appeared inside the body.

      What resulted is a series of roving sculptures woven with thin strips of brass, copper, and iron wire. Hollow tubes emerge from delicate bell-like forms secured to a wall, while occasional, long drips drop from the upper area and dangle mid-air.

      Trained as a goldsmith, Marcolini incorporates jewelry-making techniques and industrial design principles into his painstaking, entirely hand-powered process. Using a mallet, dowels, and various manual tools, the Brazilian artist creates a perfectly uniform mesh that he then shapes into supple, rounded forms. “I rarely draw—just small sketches—and most of the time, I imagine a shape using initial parameters,” he says. “The compositions are made in an exploratory way, fluid and organic, as I weave the structure and experiment on the studio wall. I can say it’s a very intuitive process.”

      As the artist sees it, these individual, linked metal pieces are like single cells or DNA that repeat again and again, spawning new forms. While distinct in shape, the sculptures are still malleable, transparent, and abstract. The works resemble the circuitous systems found in the human body, but also the creatures found in forests and oceans, and occupy a sort of ambiguous, hybrid space.

      Marcolini titles his collections with words like colony, system, captured, and bilateral. Referencing the relationship between single components and the larger whole, each body of work becomes a sort of community of organisms that seem to take on a life of their own. Rather than impose a particular interpretation, the artist leaves the exact form of the works open-ended, as if they might morph into new life at any moment.

      Not Every Repetition is a Return, Marcolini’s solo exhibition, is on view through May 23 at Galeria Lica Pedrosa in São Paulo. Find more of his work on his website and Instagram.

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    • 150 Shares179 Views

      in Art

      Ethereal Weavings Merge Architecture and Nature in Élise Peroi’s ‘For Thirsting Flowers’

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      Installation view of ‘For Thirsting Flowers.’ All images courtesy of the artist and CARVALHO PARK, New York, shared with permission

      Ethereal Weavings Merge Architecture and Nature in Élise Peroi’s ‘For Thirsting Flowers’

      May 8, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Imagine standing at a window at dawn as the pale yellow morning light filters through the trees, slowly illuminating flower petals and setting the scene for birdsong. As you move around, the light dapples and changes, and details emerge or disappear around other forms. For Élise Peroi, this sensation provides a starting point for elegant textile sculptures.

      Onto graceful wooden frames, the French artist weaves ethereal, layered screens evocative of dreamy portals to nature. “The luminosity of Peroi’s woven paintings is such that we might feel ourselves carried outside to watch the sky brighten, the air soft against our skin,” says Dr. Rebecca Birrell in an essay accompanying Peroi’s solo exhibition, For Thirsting Flowers, at CARVALHO PARK.

      Detail of “Pensée I” (2025), painted silk and linen, 36 x 28 x 3 inches

      The artist taps into the long tradition of European tapestries, which were used for both decoration and to help keep homes and churches insulated. Stitched by hand, the works could reach architectonic proportions and contain highly detailed figurative and narrative scenes. Peroi departs from customary associations with tapestries by removing the pieces from the wall and creating standalone, self-supporting structures.

      She also emphasizes a kind of opening-up of the textile itself. The interactions between warp and weft are loose, delicate, and irregular. And each piece’s depth is determined by the wooden framework, details of which often jut outward in gentle yet willful angles.

      Peroi’s sculptures appear to subtly morph as one walks around, merging internal and external perspectives. The artist explores relationships between emptiness, form, perception, and the built environment, hinting at recognizable shapes like flowers and foliage set against muted diamond-shaped geometric patterns or open spaces in the weave. And the frames serve both as display devices and looms—the process and finished piece merged into one.

      For Thirsting Flowers continues in Brooklyn through May 23. See more on the artist’s website.

      Installation view of ‘For Thirsting Flowers’ at CARVALHO PARK, New York

      “La lune” (2025), silk, silver leaf, gouache, acrylic, and linen, 64 x 55 x 6 inches

      “Pensée I” (2025), painted silk and linen, 36 x 28 x 3 inches

      Installation view of ‘For Thirsting Flowers’ at CARVALHO PARK, New York

      Installation view of ‘For Thirsting Flowers’ at CARVALHO PARK, New York

      “Songes II” (2022), painted silk and linen, 55 x 78 x 6 inches

      Detail of “Songes II”

      Installation view of ‘For Thirsting Flowers’ at CARVALHO PARK, New York

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    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Architectural Textiles by Sarah Zapata Explore Material Culture and Intersecting Identities

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      “Part of the tension (from earthen pits) II” (2024), handwoven cloth, natural and synthetic fiber, and hand coiled rope, 50 x 14 x 14 inches. All images © Sarah Zapata, courtesy of the artist, Kasmin, and Sargent’s Daughters, shared with permission

      Architectural Textiles by Sarah Zapata Explore Material Culture and Intersecting Identities

      May 1, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      In vibrant patchworks of woven patterns and fuzzy fiber ends, Sarah Zapata’s sculptures (previously) emerge as wall-hung tapestries, standalone pieces, and forest-like installations. Through the convergence of architectural structures, soft textiles, and myriad patterns and textures, her site-specific works examine the nature of layered identities shaped by her Peruvian heritage, queerness, her Evangelical upbringing in South Texas, and her current home in New York.

      Zapata balances time-honored craft practices with contemporary applications, highlighting the significance of Indigenous Peruvian weaving, for example, as a means of communication. Symbols and patterns composed into cloth traditionally provided a means of sharing knowledge and cosmological beliefs.

      Installation view of ‘Beneath the Breath of the Sun’ (2024) at ASU Art Museum, Tempe, Arizona. Commissioned by CALA Alliance

      In abstract sculptures that often merge with their surroundings, Zapata incorporates unexpected and vibrant color combinations with woven fabrics and tufted textures. Resisting easy categorization, her pieces are neither functional nor purely decorative, although they play with facets of both.

      Zapata consciously holds back from creating work that is too “beautiful,” inviting a remarkable, tactile exploration of relationships between craft, lineage, community, and memory.

      Some of the works shown here are included in Support Structures at Sargent’s Daughters, which continues through through May 3. Find more on Zapata’s website and Instagram.

      “How often they move between the planets” (2022), handwoven cloth, natural and synthetic fiber, 144 x 60 inches

      Detail of “How often they move between the planets”

      “Part of the tension (from earthen pits) I” (2024), handwoven cloth, natural and synthetic fiber, and hand coiled rope, 49 x 14 x 14 inches

      Installation view of ‘To strange ground and high places,’ Galleria Poggiali, Milan. Photo by Michele Alberto Sereni

      “Towards and ominous time III” (2022), handwoven cloth, natural and synthetic fiber, 144 x 60 inches

      Installation view of ‘To strange ground and high places,’ Galleria Poggiali, Milan. Photo by Michele Alberto Sereni

      Detail of “Part of the tension (from earthen pits) II”

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    • 175 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      With 60 Artists, ‘The Golden Thread’ Weaves Together a Survey of Contemporary Fiber Art

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      Ana María Hernando, “El intento del agua/The Intent of Water” (2025), tulle, wood, metal lattice, felt, velvet. All images courtesy of BravinLee, shared with permission

      With 60 Artists, ‘The Golden Thread’ Weaves Together a Survey of Contemporary Fiber Art

      April 17, 2025

      ArtCraft

      Grace Ebert

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      The monumental textile exhibition that took over an 18th-century warehouse last spring is back for a second iteration.

      In the South Street Seaport area of Manhattan, The Golden Thread 2: A Fiber Art Show returns with more than 100 artworks made by 60 artists from around the globe. As with the first iteration, this reprisal includes eight site-specific installations that respond to the former mercantile space.

      Tomo Mori, “(we) keep going” (2025), donated fabrics, used clothes and linens, acrylic and cotton fillings, and anodized aluminum wires

      Organized by BravinLee, The Golden Thread is a sweeping survey of contemporary fiber art encompassing a vast array of materials, aesthetics, and subject matter. Several artists connect textiles’ historical association with femininity and domesticity, including Ana María Hernando’s pair of cascading tulle works. Frequently working with the gossamer fabric, Hernando sees her sculptures as an act of rebellion in which “softness becomes less a discreet quality and more a function of power, both formally and symbolically.”

      Similarly, Diana Weymar presents “American Sampler,” a collection of embroidered, typographic works made during a five-year period. Created to showcase a woman’s skill and literacy throughout the 18th century, samplers have a long history as sites of feminine expression. Weymar draws on this legacy for this patchwork tapestry, which is part of her ongoing Tiny Pricks Project created in 2018 in response to Donald Trump’s tumultuous first term.

      Colossal readers will recognize several artists in this second exhibition, including Caitlin McCormack, Rima Day, Willie Cole, and Ulla-Stina Wikander. The Golden Thread is on view through May 16.

      Tiny Pricks Project (Diana Weymar), “American Sampler” (2020-2025), vintage textiles and cotton floss

      Detail of Tiny Pricks Project (Diana Weymar), “American Sampler” (2020-2025), vintage textiles and cotton floss

      Caitlin McCormack, “Babylon Rec Room,” vintage wallpaper on salvaged drywall with crochet cotton string and glue embellishment

      Ali Dipp, “Concession No 3 (Trumbull, Capitol)” (2024), manually stitched threads on denim jeans, 79 x 117 inches

      Left: Fran Siegel, “Medicine Wheel” (2020), cyanotype, scrim, embroidery, sewing, string, and mounted on bar, 90 x 60 x 10 inches. Right: Manju Shandler, “The Elephant in the Room” (2024), mixed media soft sculpture, 6 x 6 x 9 feet

      Traci Johnson. Left: “Lil Femme,” yarn on cloth, 12.5 x 22 inches. Right: “Love Me in a Place Where There’s no Space or Time” (2023), yarn on cloth, 7.5 x 7.2 feet

      Sam Dienst, “Clutter Conundrum” (2024), hand-woven tapestry with yarn, beads, paint, and felt, 56 x 57 x .25 inches

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    • 150 Shares169 Views

      in Art

      Laura Ellen Bacon Brings Somerset Willow ‘Into Being’ at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

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      Detail of “Into Being.” All photos by India Hobson. Images courtesy of the artist and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, shared with permission

      Laura Ellen Bacon Brings Somerset Willow ‘Into Being’ at Yorkshire Sculpture Park

      April 7, 2025

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      From pliable lengths of sustainably sourced Somerset willow, Laura Ellen Bacon (previously) weaves elegant, meandering sculptures. Whether installed on a wall, streaming from windows, or curled up on a plinth, her works invite us to wander through installations that appear alive and moving.

      Bacon’s latest solo exhibition, Into Being, just opened at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. The Derbyshire-based artist created pieces for the park’s 18th-century chapel, centering around an eponymous piece that extends six meters into the nave and reaches three meters high. Mirroring shapes from nature like seed pods, burrows, and cocoons, the undulating form welcomes visitors to step inside a kind of gentle, organic embrace.

      The artist with “Into Being”

      Joining a continuum of artists like Andy Goldsworthy—who has four works permanently on display ay YSP—Nicola Turner, and Kate MccGwire who utilize natural materials to create enigmatic in situ installations, Bacon’s site-specific works respond directly to their surroundings. She constructed “Into Being” on location at YSP over the course of eight weeks, re-interpreting the space by “drawing” with willow. About 80 bundles of Dicky Meadow, a variety known for its slender and straight stem, wind their way through the gallery

      In Britain, people have been weaving with willow for upwards of 10,000 years, primarily using the material for creating baskets. The thin stems are soft, flexible, and lightweight, making them easy to handle and bend. Bacon has developed her own methods during the past two decades, experimenting with relationships between curves and lines, tightness and looseness, and knots and twists to create contemporary, abstract compositions.

      Branches that have naturally fallen from beech trees at YSP form part of the sculpture’s supporting structure, which, “through its material and form, conjures up a primal instinct to nest and reconnect with the natural world,” says a statement. When the installation is dismantled later this year, the material will be repurposed on the YSP grounds to create wildlife habitats.

      Into Being continues through September 7 in West Bretton, England. Find more on Bacon’s website and Instagram.

      “Contact”

      Detail of “Contact”

      “Into Being”

      Detail of “Into Being”

      Detail of “Into Being”

      “Confidant”

      Detail of “Into Being”

      Detail of “Into Being”

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