Kiki Smith

Kiki Smith 1954-

        I meant to write about Kiki Smith around the time of SMFA's InsideOut sale (as she had a piece in it; Born last image - one of her many depictions of the red riding hood tale) but somehow I managed not to do so.
        Kiki Smith is one of those artists where I've had an impossible time choosing images to put up here. This is not only because I love her work so much (definitely one of the artists I aspire to be like), but also because she works across so many mediums that it's absolutely impossible to give any kind of window into the breadth of her work. Nevertheless, I have chosen some of my favorites, and tried to give a small taste of what she's about.
        Smith has said that she strongly identifies with her gender, and it is definitely clear in her work, which re-contextualizes and reconstructs stories, myths, and histories; through her female eye. The two sites I've included here have way more information about her than I could possibly share or even summarize, so I suggest you take a look at one or both.

-awesome MoMA interactive site from their 2003 show Kiki Smith: Prints, Books & Things with lots of her work and lots of info.
-Art:21 on Kiki Smith (in the "Stories" episode)






images: pbs.org & moma.org

Joyce McDaniel

        Last week Joyce McDaniel came into GASP (the gallery where I work) to drop off her submission for Bag It!, our gala silent auction this Friday, and I was reminded of how much I absolutely love her work. McDaniel teaches at The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and I took a course with her in the fall of last year. The class, which was an introduction to welding, had three teachers, and they started the course by each giving a short presentation on their own work, something that was unique (to my personal experience) at the school, and something that I thought was really important and exciting.
        I immediately fell for McDaniel's work, which juxtaposes delicate dress form and handmade paper with steel into the absolutely most amazing and tactile sculptures. The pieces seem directly representative of McDaniel herself, who is not an imposing person (her small stature belies the strength of her work) and is very sweet, but is also an extremely strong and inspiring woman. Her pieces speak powerfully about identity, femininity, and communication, and truly read as visual texts.
        My favorite series of hers makes reference to Virginia Woolf, who McDaniel feels a particular connection to,
        "Virginia Woolf queried what it means to be female; what it means to bear burdens of subordination, accommodation, patterns of lower expectations, rage, even quiet despair. Her life, work and death have struck a resonant cord within me. She chose to own her own death by filling her pockets with stones and walking into the River Ouse. In my attempt to understand that event, I created a series of work paying sculptural homage to her. This piece is part of a series of work dedicated to Virginia Woolf."
(statement specifically in reference to Monday or Tuesday, last piece shown here)
        McDaniel captures Woolf in a poetic way that can only be explained as a visual equivalent to Woolf's own writing. One can sense the exact "quiet despair" and weight she has described. McDaniel's decision to include the soft round rocks in these pieces makes them particularly strong. Anyone familiar with Woolf's story will read it in the pieces, and visually it is a stunning choice.

McDaniel's website




images: joycemcdanielart.com