Stephanie Metz

Time 2020-12-26 06:02:46

Web Name: Stephanie Metz

WebSite: http://www.stephaniemetz.com

ID:146407

Keywords:

Stephanie,Metz,

Description:

Adversatio (Eggshells) I began creating these combinations of felted wool and eggshells during the COVID-19 shelter-in-place period that began in March of this year. This body of work is titled ‘Adversatio;’ I tend to name bodies of work in Latin to link them to scientific nomenclature of specimens. I also like the slight distancing from everyday language that can enfold meaning in a less direct fashion. Adversatio translates to ‘opposition,’ which fits both the physicality and themes of these sculptures that bring together eggshells and wool. Eggshells serve a role of being both protective and breakable; they speak to both fragility and strength. While a broken eggshell may suggest destruction it can also be evidence of new life or life-sustaining sustenance. Wool fibers are loose, soft, fluffy, and amorphous, yet they can be shaped into firm, dense, solid felt. These works are a response to the feelings of uncertainty, fear, loss, protection, and hope amid a pandemic. For me the process of making these pieces is soothing and absorbing; needle felting on a small scale is an exacting yet repetitive activity. The addition of eggshells means I ride the line between satisfaction and destruction-- or change of direction-- depending on my fine motor skills and the vicissitudes of calcium carbonate shards. The resulting square panels bring me a sense of order; while each individual piece is a reaction to specific shell fragments, all espouse clean lines and tight control. Neither eggshells nor wool are precious commodities, yet I find both animal products to be rather wondrous upon deep examination. I hope the intimacy and detail captured in these pieces communicate wonder along with the sense of unlikely opposition on multiple levels. These works are available through the online store. Teddy Bear Unnatural History Teddy bears at first appear trivial: playthings for children and symbols of innocence, comfort, and nostalgia. But the teddy bear is also an allegory for the way humans manipulate the natural world to our own ends. The anatomy of the teddy bear is designed to appeal to the biological response of human adults to care for their cute, round-featured, helpless babies. The tiny, sharp teeth in my teddys’ skulls serve as a reminder of the apex predator that inspired them.To create my teddy bear natural history pieces I start with various breeds and reverse engineer the physical 'evidence' of their biological history in needle-felted wool, a material perfectly suited to representing fuzzy and soft yet firm and structural bones and tissues of stuffed animals.Original artworks and photographic prints of some of these works are available through the online shop. Ursulus mellitas, Ursulus solicitudo disneyus, Ursulus gasterpectus, wool on steel stands, 2006. Ursulus machaera dente, wool, steel stand, glass dome, 5.25" x 7" x 6.5", 2016. Private Collection. Ursulus machaera dente, detail, wool, steel stand, glass dome, 5.25" x 7" x 6.5", 2016. Private Collection. Ursulus melias and source teddy bear 'Melia'; wool on steel stand, 4.25" x 6" x 5.5", 2015. Commissioned piece. Ursulus teodorus ruxpinus and source bear, wool and steel stand, 5" x 5.5" x 5.25", 2014. Commissioned by National Centre for Craft Design, U.K. Teddy Bear Fetal Development, wool, buttons; framed, 7.75" x 23" x 3", 2007. Private Collection. Ursulus parvulus 10-08, wool, buttons, glass jar, 7" x 3.5" x 3.5", 2008. Private Collection. Ursulus parvalus adsicco, wool and buttons in jar, 7" x 3.5" x 3.5", 2016. Private Collection. Ursulus evolvere, wool and buttons, framed; 7.25" x 15" x 1.75", 2014. Private Collection. Flesh & Bone Sculpture ‘Flesh and Bone’is a series of small studies and human-sized sculptures that reference parts of the body, from soft weighty folds of flesh to the stripped down abstract architecture of bones. The features of each extreme—rigid, angular edges and plump creases and dimples—blend into each other in a sort of logic that develops as I construct the piece and imagine the forces acting upon it. Left to right: Large Flesh Bone #3 (Butterfly Pelvis), Large Flesh Bone #2 (Serrated Soft Skull), and Flesh Bone Panel Study #2  Left to right: Large Flesh Bone #1 (Arched Openings), Flesh Bone Panel Study #1 (Scalloped Folds), Flesh Bone Study #4 (Shell/Flesh) Large Flesh Bone #4 (Hanging Pod), wool, industrial felt, and polyurethane foam, 30” x 12” x 16”, 2015 Large Flesh Bone #3 (Butterfly Pelvis), wool, industrial felt and steel, 27" x 35" x 9", 2013. Private collection. Large Flesh Bone #2 (Serrated Soft Skull), wool and industrial felt, 30" x 40" x 36", 2013 Large Flesh Bone #1 (Arched Openings), wool and industrial felt, 30" x 55" x 30", 2012 Flesh Bone Study #13 (Hanging Shell), wool, industrial felt, 13" x 5.25" x 4.5", 2017 Flesh Bone Study#10 (Petal Swirl), wool, 8" x 8" x 5", 2015. Private collection. Flesh Bone Study #7 (Curled Wing), wool, 7" x 10.5" x 5", 2013. Private collection. Flesh Bone Study #6 (Hanging Half Skull), wool and industrial felt, 18" x 12" x 21", 2013. Private collection. Flesh Bone Study #5 (Butterfly Pelvis), wool and plexiglass, 7.5" x 4" x 1.5", 2013. Private collection. Flesh Bone Study #4 (Shell/Flesh), wool and plexiglass, 11" x 7.25" x 4.5", 2013 Flesh Bone Study #2 (Teardrop Foramen), wool, 11" x 12.5" x 3.5", 2012. Private collection. Flesh Bone Study #1 (Suspended Wings),wool and plexiglass, 7" x 6" x 1.5", 2012. Private collection. Flesh Bone Panel Study 4 (Fossa Chain), wool, industrial felt, foam, and wood, 21” x 21” x 6”, 2015. Private collection. Flesh Bone Panel Study #2 (Fold Valley), wool, industrial felt, foam, and wood, 21” x 21” x 6”, 2013. Available and on view at Jack Fischer Gallery, S.F. Flesh Bone Panel Study #1 (Scalloped Folds), wool, industrial felt, foam, and wood, 21” x 21” x 4”, 2013. Private collection. Flesh & Bone Wool Drawings Drawings rendered in wool pushed through paper. Organic and abstract, blending features of soft flesh and hard bone. Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #5, detail (Serpentine), wool through paper, 30” x 22”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #4, detail (Fossa Pod), wool through paper, 30” x 22”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #4, detail (Fossa Pod), wool through paper, 30” x 22”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #3, detail (Shell), wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #2 (Bone Corset),wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #2, detail (Bone Corset), wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #2, detail (Bone Corset), wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017 Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #1 (Ring), wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017. Private collection. Flesh Bone Wool Drawing #1, detail (Ring), wool through paper, 22” x 15”, 2017. Private collection. Calamus (Wool and Quill forms) Calamus is Latin for quill; porcupine quills are in fact modified hairs. Here I combine them with wool for contrast in every sense of the word. Calamus anguis, wool and porcupine quills in glass dome, 7" x 9.5" x 9.5", 2017. Calamus anguis, detail, wool and porcupine quills in glass dome, 7" x 9.5" x 9.5", 2017. Calamus plicatilus, wool and porcupine quills, 4" x 2" x 3.5," 2014. Private collection. Calamus cocleatus, wool and porcupine quills, 3.5” x 3.5” x 1.75”, 2015. Private collection. Calamus eris, wool and porcupine quills, 3.5" x 2.75" x 4," 2014. Private collection. Calamus dentium curvo, wool and porcupine quills, 3.5” x 3.5” x 1.75”, 2016. Private collection. Calamus deprimo, wool and porcupine quills on panel, 6" x 6" x 3.75," 2014. Private collection. Calamus prinus, wool and porcupine quills, 2.5" x 3" x 2.5," 2014. Private collection. Calamus nutrix, wool and porcupine quills, 5" x 3" x 2.5," 2014. Private collection. Calamus nutrix, wool and porcupine quills, 5" x 3" x 2.5," 2014. Private collection. Calamus serpens, wool and porcupine quills, 3" x 1.25" x 3.5", 2014. Private collection. Calamus sumen, wool and porcupine quills, 3.5” x 3.5” x 2.25”, 2014. Private collection. Calamus orbis, wool and porcupine quills on panel, 6” x 5.5” x 2.5”, 2014. Private collection. Calamus arcus, wool and porcupine quills, 3.5” x 3.5” x 1.75”, 2014. Private collection. Calamus brucus, wool and porcupine quills, 4.5" x 2.5" x 4," 2016. Private collection. Calamus brucus, detail, wool and porcupine quills, 4.5" x 2.5" x 4," 2016. Private collection. Amorphozoa (abstracted creatures) These sculptures aim to distill the essence of a creature-- to functionally and aesthetically simplify living organisms to mere suggestions of parts, tactilely intriguing and low maintenance. Mimicking the dichotomy of the concept of nature conceived in a lab they are warm yet cool and aloof, cuddly yet strange and menacing.Amorphozoarefers to animals without a mouth or regular internal organs. Amorphozoa #11, wool and porcupine quills, 8.5" x 7" x 5.5", 2009. Private collection. Amorphozoa #11, detail, wool and porcupine quills, 8.5" x 7" x 5.5", 2009. Private collection. Amorphozoa #15, wool and porcupine quills, 3.25" x 6" x 8", 2010. Private collection. Amorphozoa #9, wool and porcupine quills, 6.5" x 7" x 6.5", 2009. Private collection. Amorphozoa #9, detail, wool and porcupine quills, 6.5" x 7" x 6.5", 2009. Private collection. Amorphozoa #14, wool and porcupine quills, 13.5" x 7" x 3", 2010. Private collection. Amorphozoa #14, detail, wool and porcupine quills, 13.5" x 7" x 3", 2010. Private collection. Avicular (bird-like forms) Abstracted birdlike forms rendered in wool and hair.Selected original artworks are available through the online shop. Avicular #10, detail, wool and hair, 4" x 4.25" x 9.25", 2012. Private collection. Avicular #11, detail, wool and hair, 10.5" x 5.75" x 7.25", 2012. Private collection. Loricae (Metal mesh forms) Loricaerefers to chain mail, which was historically used for both its function and communication capabilities-- for physical protection, but also to declare wealth, kinship, rank, and status. These creatures are meant to be both defensive and decorative, and are another foray into combining materials the complement and yet undermine the soft quality of wool. The aluminum metal mesh used as armor or scales for these creatures comes from antique evening bags. Lorica #5, detail, wool and metal mesh, 3.75" x 2" x 3.25", 2011. Private collection. Pelts (clothing and hair) The ‘Pelt’ sculptures came about when I first became a parent; the intense and emotional drive to care for, feed, and protect my young felt deeply personal and yet common throughout the animal kingdom. The messy, uncontrollable, and immensely satisfying elements of being a mother brought home to me that for all my education, tool use, and language, I am essentially a mammal.One hallmark of being a mammal is possessing hair—something humans routinely try to shape, deny, remove, and contain that persists nonetheless. In this work I combine found clothing items that carry their own layers of meaning with hair that intrudes on and reshapes them as a reassertion of the closeted mammal inside. X-Ray Dress, detail, wool, found textiles, LED lights, 36.5" x 28.5" x 2”, 2009 Wool Drawings Explorations using dark wool as a drawing medium by punching it through paper for a dimensional and graphic effect.Selected original artworks are available through the online shop. French Mondain, detail, wool through paper, 30" x 22", 2016. Private Collection. Damask Familia Blackbird, wool through paper, 30" x 22", 2007. Private Collection. Overbreeding My 'overbred' creatures are a series of animals that bear the imagined results of domestication pushed to absurdity. The attributes that make them appealing, useful, marketable, and handy for human use are rather short-sighted and human-centric. They are both strange and familiar, and arouse amusement, sympathy and disgust. It is not impossible to imagine that they may soon come to be, through breeding and bioengineering.

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Online portfolio of felted wool sculpture and drawings by Bay Area artist Stephanie Metz.

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