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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nPermanent Resident, cast iron, steel, plastic tube, 80″ x 24″ x 19″<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amberlie Perkin won the Won Lee (Posthumous) Sculpture Award for Swallow\u2019s Sleep<\/em>. The unusual bulging shape with seemingly deep hollows challenges our perception at first sight. What are those holes for? Looking at the title we have a moment of recognition; those are swallow\u2019s nests constructed like apartment buildings \u2014 something that you don\u2019t find in nature. Perkin wrote, \u201cMy creative process enacts the materiality of mourning \u2014 using grief and loss as lively material with which to build new forms, while formalizing the presence of absence.\u201d Indeed, she created a totally new form for natural purposes with a very visible absence of any living thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Swallow’s Sleep, mixed-media, 47″ x 41″ x 34″<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brenda Nieves is the recipient of the Artcast Inc. Award for The Keeper<\/em>. What does this late relative of horned mythological figures, like a Minotaur or faun, represent in our time? Nieves\u2019 previous work addressed nature, using plants and flowers as her inspiration, so this piece may have something to do with nature as well. Depicting a woman\u2019s head as the keeper brings the element of nurturing into the composition. Her face radiates life and kindness, suggest a caring attitude, keeping everything safe and alive. She could be seen as a deer totem, worshipped by her people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brenda Nieves with The Keeper, stoneware, cotton, 30″ x 20″ x 10″ at the opening reception<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Sirens of Covid, <\/em>Nieves focuses on a very contemporary issue. One face of the three-faced figure is wearing a mask as a precaution, while another has just removed hers but still seems worried. The emotional expression and pastel coloring of the faces make the sculpture rather poetic. COVID has created fear in most people for a long time and that has changed their personality, their way of living, and their attitude toward others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brenda Nieves, Sirens of Covid, ceramics, wire<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martina Skuce received the MST Bronze Ltd. Award for her work Serenity<\/em>. The rounded, globe-like shape radiates peace and completeness, while the top part points to higher spheres. Skuce said about her method, \u201cSculpting in stone allows my creativity to become my source of meditation and removes me from the everyday world. My mind stills and becomes one with the stone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martina Skuce (left) and juror Ania Biczysko (right) at the opening reception <\/p>\n\n\n\n Martina Skuce, Serenity, chlorite, 13″ x 13″ x 4″<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mei Chan-Long\u2019s steel compositions are very dynamic. Music<\/em> stands out with its playfulness; we can feel the rhythm and imagine the movement of a dancing couple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mei Chan-Long, Music, steel<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deepness of Sean C. Robertson composition is almost mesmerizing. The two oval shapes in Hope<\/em> guide our eyes toward a “golden egg” that symbolizes our desires and gives us hope that we can reach them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sean C. Robertson, Hope, soapstone, 24 K gold<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Drolet\u2019s abstract sculptures are one of the most interesting pieces in the exhibition. Pass-Through<\/em> is built from geometrical shapes, creating a rather unique labyrinth that also pleases the eye with its vulnerable balance. It is amazing how the light wooden rectangular structure can keep the heavy granite rods up in their place. On top of everything the construction also stands on one of its corner-edges, so you expect it to fall over at any minute. This unusual composition gives the sculpture a sense of movement, like it might rotate around the point where it is grounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n