Structurally Unsound 2015 (86"h x 53"w)

The infrastructure of our country – roads, bridges and railroads – is collapsing. Our rich, powerful country does not have the political will to maintain itself. Structurally Unsound embodies that incapacity: a giant teetering on wobbly legs, desperately trying to hold itself together. Structurally Unsound was assembled from Salvation Army jackets and sweaters (literally, the clothes of our workers) and embedded with construction tools. Is this piece really headless? Are we?

This piece had been dancing around in  my head for a long time. It began as a sculpture, eventually morphed into a human-like figure, and then it was ready to be made visual on the computer (I really love that so much of my art starts with technology and finishes with traditional handwork). I asked my husband to take some pictures of my arms in different poses, and overlapped them onto a sweater image. By copying in some tweed patterns, I  figured out how to proceed to the work wall.

This was supposed to have white edging around each section, but I happened to grab an old orange cloth, just for the initial pin-up....and I knew the orange was perfect. The color of danger, warning, traffic cones!  

I worked on each section, layering it over actual tools and kiddie plastic tools. below is the wooden handle from an old saw, which I cut in half (front to back, to reduce bulk).

The rusty fencing material was found beach-combing, and my husband donated his glasses seen on the first picture(which he had accidentally stepped on, perfect for our lack of vision and planning).