Artist Statement for The Reading Chair
As a dancer I have sculpted space with my body all my life. I have sculpted other people’s bodies for 41 years as a massage therapist and dance/motion therapy teacher. And since 1966 (with a long break from 1975-2004) I have sculpted clay. I love working with clay as a base material from the earth, pushing its limits and revealing its innate qualities.
This body of work evolved out of creative panic in 1998. After 27 years of working as dancers and reading to our children every night, our oldest was ready for college.
Dancer = no money. Reading = curiosity. College = big money. Bad combination!
In my panicked and delusional state the solution came to me. I would write and publish a children’s story. Book sales would pay for college. It only took seconds to realize the absurdity of that idea.
But I couldn’t help it…I interviewed my companion Peter and our kids and wrote The Reading Chair, “finishing” it as our oldest went off to college, scholarships and loans in tow.
In 2004 I took a creative writing class and work-shopped The Reading Chair. It was published in Good News, Laney College’s blind-juried arts and literary magazine.
And then I had this exciting, and I realize now, totally insane idea. I wanted to illustrate the book with photographs of ceramic sculpture.
It is now 2008 = 4years. (when this installation was first shown)
I tried to write The Reading Chair in an inclusive way. There are no images or descriptions of people so that you, the reader/viewer, can place yourself into the story with whatever version of “family” you wish. We don’t all have mates or children or cats. But we were all children once and we all live in communities on Earth together.
Our bodies, the earth and all life on it are primarily composed of water and “clay”. Clay has a memory. It records your fingerprints and all the ways you held it in your hands. Our earth has a memory and responds to our manipulations. We humans are eroding our collective memories with power and profit. We must remember where our food, clothing and housing come from, and grow, gather and consume leaving the smallest fingerprint.
This story is not only for my children but all the children I have taught privately and in public schools for the past 37years and for all the “babies” who have and are coming-up in my Oakland neighborhood— The Murder Dubs, Rolling Twenties…The Twomps.
My point, in large part, is very simple…the act of regularly setting aside time to be together to eat, talk, read, listen—to live the simple daily tasks of life together well—is the best—or as good as it gets.
And yes, I would like to publish The Reading Chair as a picture book—if you have any contacts or thoughts please let me know.
This body of work evolved out of creative panic in 1998. After 27 years of working as dancers and reading to our children every night, our oldest was ready for college.
Dancer = no money. Reading = curiosity. College = big money. Bad combination!
In my panicked and delusional state the solution came to me. I would write and publish a children’s story. Book sales would pay for college. It only took seconds to realize the absurdity of that idea.
But I couldn’t help it…I interviewed my companion Peter and our kids and wrote The Reading Chair, “finishing” it as our oldest went off to college, scholarships and loans in tow.
In 2004 I took a creative writing class and work-shopped The Reading Chair. It was published in Good News, Laney College’s blind-juried arts and literary magazine.
And then I had this exciting, and I realize now, totally insane idea. I wanted to illustrate the book with photographs of ceramic sculpture.
It is now 2008 = 4years. (when this installation was first shown)
I tried to write The Reading Chair in an inclusive way. There are no images or descriptions of people so that you, the reader/viewer, can place yourself into the story with whatever version of “family” you wish. We don’t all have mates or children or cats. But we were all children once and we all live in communities on Earth together.
Our bodies, the earth and all life on it are primarily composed of water and “clay”. Clay has a memory. It records your fingerprints and all the ways you held it in your hands. Our earth has a memory and responds to our manipulations. We humans are eroding our collective memories with power and profit. We must remember where our food, clothing and housing come from, and grow, gather and consume leaving the smallest fingerprint.
This story is not only for my children but all the children I have taught privately and in public schools for the past 37years and for all the “babies” who have and are coming-up in my Oakland neighborhood— The Murder Dubs, Rolling Twenties…The Twomps.
My point, in large part, is very simple…the act of regularly setting aside time to be together to eat, talk, read, listen—to live the simple daily tasks of life together well—is the best—or as good as it gets.
And yes, I would like to publish The Reading Chair as a picture book—if you have any contacts or thoughts please let me know.
© Vicki Gunter 2002-2012