Hament, Michele – Venturing Out

Story of the Box

This is a compilation of some of my impressions of the last year and a half and the slow re-entry into our new/old world. I had an idea in mind, but intuitively built the piece as I went. I used materials I had in my studio, or had gathered on my wanderings, pre, during and post-pandemic.

The liquid amber seed pods resemble/represent the spiky covid virus; painted gray green, with red painted upholstery tacks. There is something intrinsically beautiful to me in their forms and colors, though never to belie the horrors of the virus itself.

The small cut pieces of willow and red bud, in jail-like formation, give both the sense of our confinement and guardedness as well as the wish to have Covid under control.

The three small gold pods at the top resting on grapevine tendrils are like opening flowers, against a glittery white background, the sky, light: hope.

The box within the box contains a small painted pine needle basket I’d made some years back, resting upon and against a black river rock and nest of raffia. The outer box is covered with rice hull paper.