Wesleyan Sabrina Skinner ~ 2025 Artist in Residence Showcase
Back to events350 South Main Street, Middletown, Connecticut, 06457
Using legend as an allegory for anticipatory grief, clay acts as an emulsifier of memory, fantasy, and truth; where shadowy recollections are coaxed from the earth and made tangible by my hands. Through nature’s elements, our stories are rendered immortal.
Inspired by textile history, as well as modern literary and film narratives focusing on immortality- this body of work directly references “The Unicorn in Captivity”. A 15th century tapestry currently hanging in New York City, it is the most well known scene of a series chronicling the discovery, chase, and the eventual resting place of the immortal creature in a garden. Surrounded by flowers, collared, and enclosed by a golden fence- what was once wild and free, is now kept. The Unicorn sits, eternal. It remains unchanged by time, as everything around it is alive, but ever still dying.
In a room filled with abstracted tapestries, the Unicorn is framed by glimpses into “the garden”. Accompanied by thread, antique textile tools, and taxidermied horses - this scene is visually and tactilely familiar yet carries the eerie presence of the unknown. Where traces of rural southern culture collide with classical legend, familiar symbols of human innovation and natural decay are pulled from the past to portray the inherent connection of extant heritage to modern life.
Yet, these icons have also borne witness to all I am. To all I will fight for, and one day grieve. Housed within symbolic vignettes, these forms represent distant experiences of fear, desire, and control. Silent observers, the near constancy of their presence gave comfort in my past. By recreating their image I am choosing what to acknowledge and preserve, and what to leave resting.
Whether to escape reality, or look upon it in a kinder light, the atmosphere of this surreal collection of objects represents the ambiguous nature of quiet, enduring human attachment, and the familiarity of loneliness. Where clay and aged wood give a voice to the implicated presence of those feelings, even in their absence. Crediting both the creative and destructive properties of sentiment and providing cathartic space for what remains after we are gone.
Opening Reception January 24, 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
