repeating gestures of becoming

the seven hundred clay pears - seven a cyclical number that signifies phases of a woman’s life - represent our gifts, symbols of nourishment
and advancement of the female psyche

a contemplative immersive installation inspired by the the archetype of ‘The Handless Maiden’ a tale of initiation and endurance, drawn from the feminist writings of Dr. Clarisssa Pinkola Estés’s

“Women Who Run With The Wolves”

in stumbling upon a pear orchard, the mutilated Handless Maiden is offered
an opportunity where her psyche can begin to restore itself
supping the fruits, the maiden gains an understanding that to nourish and sustain the soul, she must place significant value on her own identity, independence and freedoms to reclaim her gifts sacrificed for the promise of some grander bargain

in the final throws of making, the repetitive, instinctive gestures of my hands bring
the work to a less refined appearance, the pears are lighter, brighter, freer, wilder, becoming more homogenous, yet remaining uniquely individual, with their own scrapes, scratches and scares, inflicted in the processes of transformation, suggestive of my own descent through the initiation of the psyche

through the repetitive gestures of burnishing the white stoneware clay, smoothing and removing the roughness of the object - taming the wilder/coarser nature of the surface – the pears become smooth yet hardened and strengthened, more robust and sturdy, the molecules of the clay becoming congealed, just as we to must strengthen and endure the tests and initiations ahead

infused with natural stains of coffee and tea, the pears take on an organic appearance, acquiring an earthy look and feel, reminiscent of the environs of a forest -
‘la selva subterránea’ the underground forest, the underworld of female knowing

over the many, many months of making, these mediative, cathartic repetitive processes/gestures constituted long periods of solitude, silence and deep listening, allowing for profound states of self-analysis and self-reflection...becoming...

through the processes of creating this work, as with the Handless Maiden and her repetitive descents into initiation, I found myself transforming and consolidating my instinctive, intuitive version of self, once again recovering and reclaiming the potent

essence of who and what I truly am, enthusiastic, resilient, enduring, a self-ruling lover of my own life becoming...