float

marie gibbons first captured my attention last year when i saw her ‘float’ series. i was immediately drawn to the clay ‘swimmerballs’ – sphere shaped swimmers all curled up and ready to roll. gibbons gives everyday moments a voice. her website is deep and layered – with background stories and insight into her process. she also has two blogs and a newsletter, so be prepared to stay awhile.

this excerpt is from gibbons’ blog about her upcoming 2007 exhibit at the arvada center for the arts and humanities:

prop•a•gate “After a discussion with another artist and friend the other night throwing out ideas, validating or not the ideas that I already have I have come to a clearer discussion . . . (I think) Do I want to suggest myth or story? NO. Do I want to depict speak of BIG human condition trials and tribulations, the journey of mankind? NO. I just want to do what I do…. speak of the everyday. Highlight a moment in time, a moment we have all had many times, and maybe it was so simple that it went by without you ever realizing how momentous it was. I want to take these moments that have resided in me – some from 50 years ago, some from yesterday. I want to present them in a way that is aesthetically pleasing and metaphorically profound. And although these are personal memories, I see the work as the messenger that is propagating many memories from many on-lookers.

I want my residual memories to propagate yours, and by you remembering and discussing your own memories the person you are talking to will remember something of their own, and so on and so on and so on. Rinse, lather and repeat!”

marie gibbons, big swimmer