In yesterday’s blog post I talked about one of the themes of my current solo exhibit being finding strength where others may perceive weakness. This, my final new piece for this exhibit, fully encapsulates that theme.
This piece was inspired by the life experience of a very good friend of mine. She has had rheumatoid arthritis since she was a teenager.  These are her hands.
To those on the outside looking in her hands probably appear gnarled or misshapen and even maybe an impediment to her daily living. To those who are close to her, however, we know better. I have seen my friend doing all sorts of things with these hands. Her children are the same age as mine and these hands spend a good deal of her days lifting her little one, changing diapers, preparing yet another meal, pushing strollers and getting her older child ready for school. I’ve seen her at the gym, working out sometimes three times a week. These hands support her weight and lift weights.  These hands have played piano for years and will in the near future take her to her dream of teaching piano to children.  There is absolutely nothing that I have not seen these hands do.
“With These Hands” by Karen D. Miller (left hand detail)
It was her strength that I wanted to capture in this piece. The hands are large in order to capture the detailing and nuances of her hand structure.  But the size also emphasizes that they are strong, not weak. The metal railing behind the piece adds both interest to the composition as well as further supporting the notion of strength and power where others may perceive frailty.
“With these Hands” by Karen D. Miller (right hand detail)
This is my first piece made completely from sculptural hooking. It was an extremely challenging piece to make because until the very end you weren’t quite sure if it would pull together properly and “work.”  And it was very important to capture all of the characteristics of the actual hands or else the statement would be lost.
The piece is comprised of approximately 30 hooked segments that were then sewn together and subsequently fitted over a styrofoam form that I had made of the hands. There was a lot of trial and error involved- the hooked portions had to be removed many times in order to allow for more shaving of the form if any of the sizing or creases in the hands felt wrong.  There were times when I wasn’t sure that the piece would be ready in time for the exhibit but I also knew that this piece was both very important to me and to the concept of the show, so I was thrilled when it all came together and was able to be hung.
All of the pieces in my current exhibit have challenged me and allowed me to grow as an artist. But I think this is the one that gave me the most lessons, the most challenges and the most feeling of pride in the end.  I look forward to taking what I have learned from this piece and applying it to future sculptural pieces- there is something absolutely wonderful about the dimensionality that can be achieved in this way.
Karen
