Leila Holtsman
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"Tumbling" is a 4' x 6' work, which consists of 12 bands of steel, abstract ceramic "pod" shapes that attach to the steel with magnets and a layer of printed imagery.
I make low-relief surfaces that evoke displacement and change, alluding to earth strata, fossils, and the passage of time. Through the manipulation of materials - forming clay into abstract shapes and giving steel panels over to rain and other elements--I make objects that call to mind forces that fade memories and recycle once-living things back to the earth.
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Updated Mon, 10/20/2008 - 7:57pm
Lenny Campello, the Mid-Atlantic art critic/blogger reviewed my work. (Please click on Lenny's archive page and scroll down to his article on May 28, 2008: http://dcartnews.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_dcartnews_archive.html Local curator and artist Ellyn Weiss reviewed the work too. (Please click on and scroll down to her May 24, 2008 article: http://www.eweissart.com/index.php/News/Page-7.html A local curator and collector purchased "Looting" for her personal collection. Participating in Artomatic generated some great buzz around my work and I'm grateful for that. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Coincide group and to everyone who worked so hard to create such a great art show. |
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Updated Mon, 10/20/2008 - 8:22pm
steel, clay and magnets
8'L x 2'W
2008
The work "Looting", is a layer of scattered crinoid pods portraying geological history frozen in time. The clay fragments represent petrified remains of a living creature and thus the change in size, shape and mineral composition, long after the death of the marine animal. The steel bands symbolize a timeline while the rust patina change over time.
For four years of my childhood, I spent the Friday of every weekend in the deserts with friends, hiking and fossil hunting. When I would find a beautiful fossil, I would be faced with a dilemma. Should I take it as a trophy of my hunt or leave it for others to appreciate? If I leave it in its context, people could study it and learn about the fossil within its context. If I take it, I strip the fossil of its environment and lose the chance for greater understanding.
Well, I did take a fossil from the wall of a dry riverbed. I decided to outline its shape with a stone circle. When I returned to the spot after a torrential rain, the water had devastated it, eroding much of the ground and moving similar fossils feet away. Was I right to take ìmyî fossil?
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