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An Eight Year Herstory
| BEWARE OF THE JABBERWOCKY: An Interactive Exhibit 2004 May 6 - 30 | Backspace Gallery | Portland, OR Featured Artist: Kirk Woods | Guest Artists: Suzanne Moulton and Sidney Rowe Review by Jennifer Oman [Backspace Gallery Curator 2004] after an interview with artist Suzanne Moulton. MODERN MEGAFAUNA SERIES |
Inspiring "joy" and encouraging interaction in the visual arts, Suzanne Moulton has
created the Modern Megafauna Series. She has often made her critters for children,
and has created these puppets for this show in hopes that adults will also return to
that "play" space.
Moulton's craft originates from a passed down tradition, dating back to when wire
was first invented. Before our disposable culture, people used wire to repair
household items for reuse. This repair method eventually evolved to become "Tinker
Craft." Hence Suzanne calls herself a "Tinkerer" or "Prestidigitator" as her
specialized field in artistry. She utilizes old world techniques along with dedication to
high quality craft to express modern concepts.
On the under belly of Suzanne's work, lies a statement of the diminishing diversity in
large animal species. Due to our discomfort with large creatures that "go bump in
the night," many animals have slipped away into that never ending darkness.
Through genetic manipulation by the greatest predator of all time, the diversity within
most species has dwindled. Large animals have become smaller and smaller in
their genetic attempts to evade extinction.
The soft fur of the Megafauna puppets makes a hard point. In the world today, the
majority of us are removed from our food source and raw materials used for clothing
and everyday items. In using real rabbit fur, Moulton is attempting to offer her
puppets as a memory of the animals themselves, much like a totem. The fear that
they will be gone forever, left only in the imagination, is ever present in this work. The
imagination of future generations should not have to be a carbon copy of relics
alone.
Artist Statement for "Dressed" Wire Marionette Women
[2001- 2004]
Crying out for a symbiotic relationship between the imagination and the veracious
attention to detail in the construction of tinker-craft, Suzanne Moulton presents a
series of wire based multi-media puppets.
In an age where the archaic is fodder for any market to disseminate status-quo,
Moulton's work too pulls from various time periods and world cultures, yet with a
gentler hand. In a world where advertisement convinces masses to pursue an
unobtainable and ultimately tragic beauty by method of body alteration, this work
finds hope. With every twist of wire or hand stitch, the very meaning of gentile, refined
culture and dress code is revealed to evolve into its antithesis. Delicate becomes
suffocating; supple becomes hard; archetypes become exaggerated; and beauty
becomes a ritualistic slaughter of the individual spirit.
Corsets, neck banding, foot binding, scarification, and modern eating disorders are
just a few body modifications that propel this series to the brink of the macabre. Yet
an overwhelming charm of integrated ornamentation sheaths these edgy motifs with
tactile seduction. Moulton's dressed sculpture series plays on the absurdity of body
modifications taken to extreme. An amorphous definition of the human form erupts
when the anatomical figure is almost entirely omitted and replaced by the body
adornment itself. This construction begs us to question if we are altering our
evolution to fit what we wear, and commenting on how this process has been
enforced in the past.
Even the exaggeration of nature's stranger creations can not begin to compare with
the dabacary of the genetic modification evolution.
Here's some old notes on my animal puppets I found relating to my road trip in 2000
where I spent five and a half months living out of a Bronco II and tent camping when
possible. Some highlights of that trip were: Capital Reef National Park [UT], Goblin
Valley State Park[UT], Dinosaur National Monument [UT, CO], Venal and the Uinta
Mountains UT, Flaming Gorge [WY], Yellowstone National Park [WY], The Bridger -
Teton National Park & Forest [WY, ID], Glacier National Park [MT], Mt. Seymour Prov.
Park [ BC Canada], and of course The Pacific Ocean [OR] for the first time. This road
trip is what brought me to Oregon and also focused my studies of the natural world.
As you'll read from this description, I am more influenced by where I've been rather
than where I'm from.
Date: July 2000
Native Upstate New York sculptor and painter, Suzanne Moulton has taken to the
western
mountain wilderness to create her latest work without the comfort of a studio.
Moulton studied under Reggis Brodey at Skidmore College, NY in 1990-1994, and in
1997 was recognized by the Illustrator's Society in New York for her student
mixed-media work. In 1998 Suzanne Moulton graduated 3rd in her class from the
Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA. Upon graduating, she entered the puppetry
business (under Paul Mesner Puppets) where she found a love for the puppet
structure and kinetic movement.
Currently, Suzanne Moulton is exploring the Northwestern and Coastal States.
Having been
deeply inspired by the weathered petroglyphs of the ancient Fremont People, she
has traveled to many sites in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to record and study the
various styles and symbolism. From these prehistoric etching she has created a
series of playful animal and women kinetic sculptures. Her amalgamation of
primitivism and highly detailed ornamentation and textiles leaves room for the
imagination. Completely one of a kind, these puppet-like sculptures engage the
imagination in the enjoyment of a magical personal playtime.
created the Modern Megafauna Series. She has often made her critters for children,
and has created these puppets for this show in hopes that adults will also return to
that "play" space.
Moulton's craft originates from a passed down tradition, dating back to when wire
was first invented. Before our disposable culture, people used wire to repair
household items for reuse. This repair method eventually evolved to become "Tinker
Craft." Hence Suzanne calls herself a "Tinkerer" or "Prestidigitator" as her
specialized field in artistry. She utilizes old world techniques along with dedication to
high quality craft to express modern concepts.
On the under belly of Suzanne's work, lies a statement of the diminishing diversity in
large animal species. Due to our discomfort with large creatures that "go bump in
the night," many animals have slipped away into that never ending darkness.
Through genetic manipulation by the greatest predator of all time, the diversity within
most species has dwindled. Large animals have become smaller and smaller in
their genetic attempts to evade extinction.
The soft fur of the Megafauna puppets makes a hard point. In the world today, the
majority of us are removed from our food source and raw materials used for clothing
and everyday items. In using real rabbit fur, Moulton is attempting to offer her
puppets as a memory of the animals themselves, much like a totem. The fear that
they will be gone forever, left only in the imagination, is ever present in this work. The
imagination of future generations should not have to be a carbon copy of relics
alone.
Artist Statement for "Dressed" Wire Marionette Women
[2001- 2004]
Crying out for a symbiotic relationship between the imagination and the veracious
attention to detail in the construction of tinker-craft, Suzanne Moulton presents a
series of wire based multi-media puppets.
In an age where the archaic is fodder for any market to disseminate status-quo,
Moulton's work too pulls from various time periods and world cultures, yet with a
gentler hand. In a world where advertisement convinces masses to pursue an
unobtainable and ultimately tragic beauty by method of body alteration, this work
finds hope. With every twist of wire or hand stitch, the very meaning of gentile, refined
culture and dress code is revealed to evolve into its antithesis. Delicate becomes
suffocating; supple becomes hard; archetypes become exaggerated; and beauty
becomes a ritualistic slaughter of the individual spirit.
Corsets, neck banding, foot binding, scarification, and modern eating disorders are
just a few body modifications that propel this series to the brink of the macabre. Yet
an overwhelming charm of integrated ornamentation sheaths these edgy motifs with
tactile seduction. Moulton's dressed sculpture series plays on the absurdity of body
modifications taken to extreme. An amorphous definition of the human form erupts
when the anatomical figure is almost entirely omitted and replaced by the body
adornment itself. This construction begs us to question if we are altering our
evolution to fit what we wear, and commenting on how this process has been
enforced in the past.
Even the exaggeration of nature's stranger creations can not begin to compare with
the dabacary of the genetic modification evolution.
Here's some old notes on my animal puppets I found relating to my road trip in 2000
where I spent five and a half months living out of a Bronco II and tent camping when
possible. Some highlights of that trip were: Capital Reef National Park [UT], Goblin
Valley State Park[UT], Dinosaur National Monument [UT, CO], Venal and the Uinta
Mountains UT, Flaming Gorge [WY], Yellowstone National Park [WY], The Bridger -
Teton National Park & Forest [WY, ID], Glacier National Park [MT], Mt. Seymour Prov.
Park [ BC Canada], and of course The Pacific Ocean [OR] for the first time. This road
trip is what brought me to Oregon and also focused my studies of the natural world.
As you'll read from this description, I am more influenced by where I've been rather
than where I'm from.
Date: July 2000
Native Upstate New York sculptor and painter, Suzanne Moulton has taken to the
western
mountain wilderness to create her latest work without the comfort of a studio.
Moulton studied under Reggis Brodey at Skidmore College, NY in 1990-1994, and in
1997 was recognized by the Illustrator's Society in New York for her student
mixed-media work. In 1998 Suzanne Moulton graduated 3rd in her class from the
Kansas City Art Institute with a BFA. Upon graduating, she entered the puppetry
business (under Paul Mesner Puppets) where she found a love for the puppet
structure and kinetic movement.
Currently, Suzanne Moulton is exploring the Northwestern and Coastal States.
Having been
deeply inspired by the weathered petroglyphs of the ancient Fremont People, she
has traveled to many sites in Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming to record and study the
various styles and symbolism. From these prehistoric etching she has created a
series of playful animal and women kinetic sculptures. Her amalgamation of
primitivism and highly detailed ornamentation and textiles leaves room for the
imagination. Completely one of a kind, these puppet-like sculptures engage the
imagination in the enjoyment of a magical personal playtime.