Sammy Rose Andress: April 2024

Memento

Rapid Heal

Marble, felt, thread

1" x 1" x 2.5"

Artist statement:

This sculpture was inspired by a moment of hardship I felt while being a collegiate athlete. During my freshman year, I got a stress fracture in my femur due to my eating habits and it caused me to stop running for a long time. The materials I chose, marble, felt, and threat, each resemble an aspect of this memory. The marble, porous and white, resembles my bone. I polished the marble to make it appear as delicate and as glass like as possible, to resemble how fragile my body had been at the time and how prone to injury it was. The marble, inside the thread and felt, is split in two. The blue string is wound tightly to keep the bone together, representing the healing that occurred over time. However, the string is also very delicate, and if too much weight is put on it, it is unable to maintain the two pieces of marble together, representing how If I am not careful with running again, I am more susceptible to being injured again. The blue felt represents my second bone injury my sophmore year in the same place. It represents more of my memory tied to being injured, and the strings that keep the felt together are tied only on one side, implying that only one side of me can learn to let the anxiety of dealing with this injury go. Overall, the color themes are White, light blue, and dark blue. I chose this because I associate blue with my running career, mostly due to my high school team being white and blue. I often associate blue with running because that was when I was the healthiest while running and not injured.

Crisp-Ellert Artist Talks

Theme Parks Sculpture

Dreamsweel

Chipboard, Acrylic Paint, Wooden Dowels, wire, rhinestones, chain, glue, felt, cardboard

16” x 14” x 6”

Artist statement:

Drawing inspiration from the creation of the Carousel, Dreamsweel represents the luxurious merry-go-rounds of the late 19th century and early 20th century. The carousel was featured in many amusement parks when they started to gain popularity in the 19th and 20th century. They featured hand painted wooden horses, often operated by manpower or a wheeling device. In some cases, real horses were used that were chained to poles. In amusement parks in the early 20th century, many rides featured gold and jewels, and this stood as a sign of luxury, privilege, and wealth. My goal in the piece was to show motion but to also exaggerate the idea of luxury in the carouse. In highlighting the expense of the horses on the carousel, I wanted to represent how it was a privilege in the 19th and 20th century to be able to ride one of them. A lot of children back then were unable to attend amusement parks because their families could not afford it. Thus, I tried to draw attention to the gold in the piece, to show how adults aim to make money off amusement parks, while children may not care for the profit or how the horse is “luxurious”—they only care about the ride. The colors and details in the piece aim to match the aesthetics that adults want for the horses, while the horses in the back represent how the children view the horses. I attempted to resemble this idea but putting three blank horses in the back, without gold or detailing, to show how this idea is hidden and covered up by the “luxurious” horses.