Fine Art Sculpture
These are the pieces that will be shown at Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport CT. Jan 21 to Feb 20, 2014
Reception: Thursday, Feb. 6th, 5 – 7 pm. Free and open to the public
Kim Bruce gratefully acknowledges the grant support from the A.F.A. to produce the work in the Heels series. 4 pieces from the series will be shown in this exhibition.
So I have kind of an ironic story about a studio accident I had with these pins I use so much in my art.
I was snipping some with wire cutters and try as I may to contain the pieces some went here and there around my studio floor.
One stray went straight into the bottom of my heavily soled studio shoes. Unaware I carried it around with me until it was time to take off my shoes. My shoes are backless so I just kick them off using my other foot. Using the foot that already had the shoe removed I kicked the back of the other shoe to remove it. Missing; my foot slipped and I stabbed myself in my big toe with the stray pin. Ouch! Hopped around a bit and thought nothing of it and went to bed.
Next day the big toe hurt even more and two days later the big red streak appeared. I was infected! What the heck? I prick myself with pins all the time.
Off to the doctor thinking I was going to have to have my toe lanced. All he gave me was antibiotics and suggested that the pin had some bacteria on it.
A few days later while taking my daily look at my unfortunate big toe to see how the infection was receding; I noticed a tiny pin head (pun intended) size dark spot, hum. So I mustered up some courage and placed an ice pack on my toe for 10 minutes to numb it. Then I got a needle, tweezers and some alcohol swabs, disinfected them and held my breath.
I opened the sore and called my husband; this was a two person job. While I held back a piece of skin he was able to grab a hold of the dark spot (which we thought was just dried blood or something), pulling out a 3/8” (I measured it) piece of pin; the pointy part.
The body is an amazing thing; it was trying to eject this foreign object from my toe. My big toe feels so much better now, thank you.
The irony is that while I am using pins and needles to make an artistic statement about what stilettos can do to harm your feet, this very item ended up harming my foot.
Do you have a studio accident that you survived to tell the story?
If you read my post about my work with Pins & Needles you will probably appreciate my work with hair.
I work with fine false wig hair as opposed to actual human hair for a couple of reasons. First I think that human hair should be donated to create wigs for people who have lost theirs due to cancer treatments. And secondly people are relieved when I tell them that it is false hair and not the real thing.
Our societies views on hair when not actually attached to our heads is one of disgust? Gross? I’m not sure when the change of view happen. It used to be in Victorian times a more precious thing. A lock of your loves hair was special and there were many fine objects created from hair; weaved into brooches and lockets and the like.
In my work with hair I juxtapose elements to create conceptual statements regarding vanity, fashion, feminism and religion. You can find some pins & needles in the 3 Hail Mary’s.
People are either totally fascinated or disturbed by my use of pins and needles in my work and very rarely immune . Since I prefer to work with opposites I find these opposing viewpoints are very apt. I believe my work gets its balance both visually and ethereally by using contrasting elements. When you think of a pin it’s a very feminine object, but it’s hard, straight and sharp. Yet, it’s used with fabrics which are soft, flexible and warm.
By far the piece that draws the most attention when it comes to my use of pins is “Pin Point”. Pin Point is a cast beeswax figure draped in wax muslin, carved into and plied with hundreds of straight pins. I think Wes Fortune said it best in the review of “MiniArture”.
“The works of Calgary-based artist Kim Bruce illustrate this point in the most elegant fashion. The former interior designer now full time artist creates sculptures that provoke musings about her state of physical, emotional and spiritual well-being and ultimately, our own.”
Wes LaFortune, ffwd,
It’s a small world: Vol 9 No 10, Feb 12, 2004 (PDF)
Pin Point made it into the New York Times when they wrote an article on R & F Handmade (encasutic) Paints at the same time that I was included in a group exhibition at their gallery.
Pin Point will be exhibited in Toronto in the Sculptors Society of Canada’s show this August to Sept 2010.The other pin piece selected for the exhibit is “Pin Head ll” and a non-pin piece “Gangsta” from the All in My Head series. So if you are in Toronto I invite you to stop by. Please see my “Exhibits” page for details.
Here are some other works with pins, needles and safety pins including Pin Head ll.