Virginia Maksymowicz

Life-casting is central to the imagery and process of my sculpture. Taking a mold from a living being and producing a positive cast in plaster challenges perception. There is something compelling about such imagery: think of Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt, or Pompeiians becoming bound in ash—only to have their forms unbound centuries later in plaster. In Bound, two human arms, lifelike in detail but stifled by stark whiteness, break the rope encircling their wrists but remain constrained by their materiality.

Karlene McConnell

Past Limitations. Acrylic on canvas. 22 x 28 inches. 2012

In my recent landscapes, man-made structures have appeared. Fences and gates are prominent among these structures. In some cases the fences are painted in and then obliterated—almost as if they are fading away into the distance, or being broken down to let the viewer in to explore new ground. They serve as metaphors for the inhibitions of the past, and portals to the future.