“I forged the thunderbolts, and she fired them” -Elizabeth Cady Stanton speaking about Susan B. Anthony
Monumental Women is an idea for a monument commemorating The Suffrage Movement in the United States. Thunderbolts represent forms of political action for three figures: Susam B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Ms. Sojourner Truth. Each figure is working out a complex problem in their own way. Sojourner Truth walks, Susan B. Anthony speaks and Elizabeth Cady Stanton writes.
The Library of Congress generously shared images of original petitions for the ground plane in the sculpture. Sunlight passes through perforated bronze surface, casting original signatures on the site. Light shines through the names of suffragists which unites nature and activism. Seeing a name written in sunlight is a unique experience that might feel like magic. The base is a polyhedron that will catch the sunlight at various angles given the weather, and times of day, bringing these historic names to life.
Ms. Stanton’s analogy of thunder applies to a desk, podium and path and alludes to the fact that a movement is a fragile network of people. Their actions are independent; the results are connected, visually and historically. The proposed monument commemorates ordinary, extraordinary people in the process of making history.
How do you visualize a movement? My approach combines original signatures into the base, which underscores the importance of individuals to the process of social change. Models speak volumes; I made a model to visualize the idea and wrote to the Alice Paul Institute who found her signature on this letter.
One historical precident for a clothed figure is Melencholia (1514), seated in the foreground, working out a complex problem. A figure fully engages in an unsolvable puzzle with practical and theoretical implications. There is a rather ominous polyhedra in the background. The engraving emphasizes the connections between activism and nature.
Three space-filling geometric forms called The Effect Effect are made in aluminum in a two stage process. First 6160 alloy is cut from a digital file which produces a very clean edge. Then these planes are tig welded to produce a series of seamless edges. Each object is sandblasted on the inside and polished to a mirror finish on the outside. The work bears certain formal similarities with Melancholia.
Related work: FLASH, 1998 (photo: David Lawson)
Clothed female figures are motifs I have addressed before. I have worked with the concept of a garment, natural phenomena, crystalline forms and geometry. Ephemeral ideas create intimacy. Stable materials frame an experience.
The first sculpture I made was a life-size cast of a clothed figure. This is second version. Related work: SUCKER, 1996, 5’7” 300lbs, candy, presented with SL Simpson Gallery (photo: P. Campbell)
I have experience casting sculptures in bronze using lost wax and cope and drag. Related work: PASSPORT, 2007 3 x 5 x. .25 inches, bronze