Home is Where

In 2018 I took a class at the New Art Center in exploring materials to help me start creating mixed-media pieces. We manipulated and combined cardboard, pencils, game pieces, wood, fabric, and other materials to make pieces that we jointly critiqued. I started playing with wire and came up with house forms. I used a jig, a board with two nails, to measure where to bend each length of wire so the houses are the same size, more or less. I liked the space in the houses; it seemed to be full of possibilities. In one house I hung two tiny hand forms that I had crocheted, thinking that hands do things in houses (cook, clean, decorate…) and maintain them. In the other houses I hung a magnolia seed pod and several beech seed pods that later opened and look like flying birds. I like the idea of bringing nature into the houses and feel like seeds represent the idea of new things developing.

~ Susan Tornheim ~