New : Emily Huffman

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Declare, 2011
Terracotta clay, wooden chair, photographs, paint, stones, jars, water, sand & shells from the Gulf of Mexico, salt, and mustard seeds

This installation was made on site for the Sept 2011 show "Life, Objects, & Why Not" at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery. The piece is about declaring faith in myself. 'Here I am' in my decadence, beauty, and earthy messiness. It is also a gesture to New Orleans and the Gulf coast in her process of recovery and reclamation. The three jars contain beach and water from the Gulf of Mexico; salt, a symbol of purification; and mustard seeds, representing faith. Matthew 17:20 reads, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." I hung an antique lace tablecloth on the wall and threw lobs of terracotta clay, building up a negative image of the lace. The lace 'stencil' is part of a future performance piece. The antique chair has exposed its veneered layers as individuals to be explored. Each one is painted teal and sandwiched between are photographs of myself. Below the stool are black basalt stones.

Libation for Cy, 2011
Wooden chair, apricots, sheep's wool, owl feathers, terracotta pitcher, California and Italian wine

On July 5, 2011 the artist Cy Twombly passed over, and I created this piece. The chair speaks of memorial, stillness, memory. The apricots and wine are offerings to his spirit. The paper boat forms carried these offerings to sea in a performance at Ocean Beach, SF. The boat performance/ritual had much movement, play, dynamism. The chair and boat forms, as well as the round orange fruits and liquid red wine, are relatives to forms and marks in Cy's work. The lined up boats preparing to face the crashing waves and the chaos that ensued relate to battle scenes, which Cy Twombly often depicted in his epic paintings of Greek and Roman Mythology.

Teeth, 2011
This (in process) installation involves hundreds of hand sculpted porcelain teeth, which will be installed on the floor in an arc. Each tooth will have a string tied loosely around it, and the other end of the string will be tied to a doorknob installed in the wall above, at normal doorknob height. My intention is that over the course of the installment, viewers are invited to exchange one tooth for something precious—a coin, a button, a flower, a drawing, whatever they are inspired to leave. The collection of pristine teeth will morph into a collection of various treasures, which I will then go on to bury or install in a different way. The piece as it changes will be recorded through photography. I am interested in the changing quality, loosing teeth as initiation, the tooth fairy mythology, and many other associations teeth hold.

Creak, 2011
Fennel sprouts and fervently grows all over San Francisco, and it dies, leaving its bones to weather in the salty fog. As a plant it is an inspiration- hearty, aromatic, beautiful, medicinal, food....and in our city it is a furry weed who isn't shy. I gathered some branches and made an instant mandala with another material I have great love for, blue tape.

Paintings 2010-2011

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