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“There Are Days”
Exhibitions/Workshops Stephanie
Hansen - Papier Mache
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Climbing the Walls
A woman who attended my recent exhibit, "Climbing the Walls", was stunned when I told her the two large mache figures she inquired about were not intentionally created to fit together. It took some convincing before she believed their natural affinity for one another was a happy coincidence, the kind that I have become used to discovering in my work. In fact, I count on it. She gasped and said, "I have to buy them! If I don't take advantage of such an incredible twist of fate then I'm a damn fool. It would be a pleasure to own something so unique." She 'got it'. One by one, she pointed to the figures hanging about the studio and asked things such as, "You're telling me you didn't make that one especially so his little foot would hang on that branch just that way?" She was doubly nonplussed when I told her I had not even thought of hanging them from branches when I was making them. "But how do they all fit so perfectly then?!" I told her, "Because they're natural forms expressing natural feelings. They're manifestations of what was going on inside of me the day I created the base forms upon which I layered the mache. I'm a part of nature, so I could pair those manifestations of myself with any of the natural elements and be guaranteed a fit so perfect you'd swear it was all planned. And it was, really...but not by me."
The difference between meticulously planned, precisely crafted figures and the shape of a heart imprecisely crafted by wonder, by fear, and by faith is the difference between a decoration and a work of art. You are a work of art. So am I. If we express ourselves, if we express even the sadness and frustration in us, we will have made art that is beautiful because of the sheer human honesty of it. Though I teach papier mache classes, the making of these sculptures cannot be outlined in simple steps. I can tell you to start by cutting a simple stick figure out of aluminum flashing, then bend it into whatever physical expression you wish you had the guts to show the world right then (ie. the foetal positon, the 'kiss this' position, or swinging from the chandeliers), then either build it up with tape and tin foil before applying strips of mache, or simple mache directly onto the thin armature.
The physical effort of creating sculptures like mine is ridiculously easy. The real big deal is digging up the willingness to make that journey to your heart to find out what shape it's in, and what shape it needs to take in order to communicate itself clearly to others. As simple as they are, as basic, as unadorned as they are, the consistent emotional clarity of the sculptures in my studio make them the most successful work I have ever done. I agree with Aristotle's words: "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." I cannot fashion a realistic-looking feather out of papier mache with the strip method, but I can make a stick figure standing in the corner facing the wall, head hung down, hands hung limply at its side, rejected, resigned, ashamed, and I know you'll remember the day you felt like that. I can make another stick figure standing in that same corner facing the wall, head back, arms crossed high and firm in front, haughty, rejecting, determined not to see any other point of view, and I know you will remember the day you felt like that, too. Stephanie Hansen
Stephanie hansen can be reached at Worth Works. |
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