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Grant Recipient

Pierced, 2019, copper and bronze, 5" x 16" x 12"

Victoria Cook

Windgate-Lamar Fellowship

2020

Artist Statement

A casual glance at a person reveals very little about them. It is easy to take for granted the complexity of an individual’s personality or to make assumptions about them based on our own identity and worldview. Social distancing Social stratification, separation, and psychological isolation allows us to objectify each other and to dismiss other people’s feelings and life experiences. But, if we move beyond the surface and look deeper, we can move away from our assumptions and social isolation. I am interested in how people relate to each other and how we can communicate and interact in a meaningful way. These issues influence the way I approach my work. I use small-scale metalwork to express my view on life and our relationships with each other. In my most recent work, I chose hollow bowl forms to represent the individual because of the poetic reference of the body as a vessel. Here, the bowl forms serve as a metaphor for a person, human bodies and their masked individuality. These vessels have a direct relationship with the body through functional use by a person as well as how they are created through the touch of a human hand. Bowls are common, everyday objects that are often defined by what they contain. Bowls represent exterior and interior spaces, where the rim is a transition between the inside and what is contained within. My abstractions of the bowl form suggest a transition to a new perspective.

Bio of the Artist

Organization Background

Location

Watervliet, MI

EDUCATION

Western Michigan University/Frostic School of Art

SPECIALIZATION

metalworking and woodworking

Institution

Grant amount

$15,000

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