Date: Sunday, October 20
Address: node.0, 3744 Louisiana Ave, St. Louis, MO 63118
Media: Installation, Mixed Media, Sculpture
Studio Features: Child-Friendly, Restroom, RefreshmentsJennifer Higerd, untitled, 2019. ceramic. Courtesy the artist. Jennifer Higerd, untitled, 2019. detail. ceramic. Courtesy the artist. Jennifer Higerd, untitled, 2019. ceramic. Courtesy the artist. Jennifer Higerd, untitled, 2019. ceramic. Courtesy the artist. Jennifer Higerd, untitled, 2019. ceramic. Courtesy the artist. Working primarily in clay, I’m pursuing two conceptually similar, but visually unrelated veins. On the one hand, I’m exploring abstracted organic shapes, the circle in particular. The circle represents wholeness and completion and the cyclical aspect of life. Ever present in nature, the circle is the shape of atoms and cells upwards to the grandeur of planets and their orbits.
Additionally, I build architectural objects whose form both references an archetypal house and alludes to objects of religious rites. With them, I mean to suggest such things as our connection to something bigger than the individual, to hint at the mystical and mysterious, and to emphasize the symbolism laden rites and rituals that, in their slow and deliberate nature, add meaning to a chaotic world.
My goal is to create space, a sense of repose, an escape from the chaos of the modern world. The viewer is invited into a quiet place to reflect on the work and its meaning. The decoration and patterns are intended to be meditative, much in the same way a labyrinth was used. As the eye circles and examines the patterns of the piece, the viewer slows down and is drawn in.