The tooth is my symbol for information, all the bits and pieces left behind. Sometimes collected by the Tooth Fairy for unknown purposes, other times collected by the dentist for known purposes. Either way, the memory and story becomes my collected object.
Tooth Fairy Diaries
2009 - 2012 | Terra cotta, porcelain, graphite, tea, wax, pins, thread
The first stand-alone tooth sculptures started with these Tooth Fairy Diaries. Each tile is loosely based on a tooth memory that different people shared with me after seeing a small tooth tucked here or there in one of my sculptural books.
Tooth Diaries came along after the tile pieces, I was wanting to create something that could be held or at least viewed in the round.
In 2010 I created a full-size wingback chair and ottoman (the lamp came along later) when invited to participate in the exhibition, Nekkid, at the Art Association of Jackson Hole. The exhibition was a celebration of the body and the taboo often seen around artwork of the nude form. My take was a bit unconventional:
A reflection of the figure lingers in the spaces occupied by the body: furniture, rooms, clothing. These spaces cannot help but be defined by the human touch or presence. Questions and memories linger in these negative spaces, the air or surface heavy with touch and familiarity.
In this setting, teeth represent the particles left behind. Bits of information, strands of identity, unseen and seen these are part of the figure.
Conversations & Confrontations
2013 | Morris Gallery of Contemporary Art at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, MO
Life size fabricated furniture, steel, gator board, thousands of carved porcelain teeth
Drawings of multiple sizes, ink on paper
A reflection of the figure lingers in the spaces occupied by the body: furniture, rooms, and clothing. These spaces cannot help but be defined by human touch or presence. Questions and memories linger, the air and surface heavy with touch and familiarity.
This space is dramatic and cold, yet inviting like a distantly familiar apartment. Each section mirrors a room with life-size furniture, from a distance seen as a textural white. Closer inspection reveals the furniture to be a bit stiff, a bit off, and covered with white teeth.
Sculpted porcelain teeth represent the particles left behind. Bits of information, strands of identity, unseen and seen these are part of the figure. Each tooth has been attached like beads engulfing the fabricated furniture, particles that lend an eerie voice to the setting.
Conversations and confrontations are acted out by furniture in large ink drawings. A little bed dreams of being the first bed on the moon, while a family of furniture pose for an awkward family portrait.
A memory
2014 | Porcelain, wire
A memory is a dreamy recollection of a childhood occurrence. After diving practice in a summer swim lesson my classmates and I lined up along the edge of the pool. In unison we began screaming at the realization that someone had lost a tooth. We all watched, horrified as the tooth was slowly sucked down the drain.
