Crown (2016) Moulding, latex enamel, pine, carpet, caulk guns, hardware 63 x 134 x 70 inches |
The structural
properties of wood and the value it possesses as a constructive and decorative
material is essential to my investigation of fabricated objects, my creation of
“play-things”, and the influence of a renovation-obsessed-culture on
contemporary living. Adapting the role of the “renovator” in recent years, my
visual lexicon has been saturated by the objects, tools, and equipment we
acquire as “homeowners” and / or “home-improvers”. I have absorbed a great deal
of knowledge about the builder’s space, the materials and objects that are
associated with that space, and the many methods of fabrication, assembly, and
finishing. Wood, the “go-to” material of my past chiefly for its structural
dependency, has recently shifted into a source for expression, description and
imitation. As one consumed by labor, better known to me as “the project”, I
search for adventure and delight by imagining visual and functional connections
between a given task and the toys and games that defined my childhood. This
nostalgic and oddly educational connection, synonymous to the way that a child
engages in “pretend”, transforms the shop into my stage, my practice into
“play”, and wood into my most adaptable prop.
Biography
Amy
Archambault received her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania, PA and BA in
Studio Art | Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross, MA. Archambault's
large-scale installations, sculptures and inspective mixed media drawings
uncover playful and unconventional activations of sites and structures. Her
complex and energetic installations incorporate both the material and the
visual languages of athletic culture, childhood play and the "home
improvement" / constructive domain.
Recipient
of the 2013 Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Grant (Sculpture /
Installation) and member of the Boston Sculptors Gallery, MA, Archambault has
exhibited her work throughout the Northeast. Archambault was most recently
named the Boston Center for the Arts Artist in Residence. Her public
interactive installation "inMotion: Memories of Invented Play" was
featured on the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza (Summer 2015) and earned her
recognition in the Boston Globe. In addition, Archambault participated in the
ambitious "Isles Arts Initiative" (Summer 2015) with her work being
installed in Fort Warren (Georges Island, Boston Harbor Islands, Boston,
MA). Archambault's installation "Futile Ascent" was featured in
a group exhibition of faculty artists, "Pulse", at the College of the
Holy Cross, MA and additionally at GRIN Providence, RI. Prior, her
installation, "Live-work", was featured in a solo exhibition at 17
Cox, Beverly, MA in 2014. Archambault was recognized in Pulse Magazine for its
"Up & Coming Local Artists" outlook in Central Massachusetts,
2012. She is currently Studio Supervisor / Lecturer at the College of the Holy
Cross, MA.
Wow! Nice blog post!!
ReplyDelete