Michael Shaughnessy exhibit in Rice Gallery: not just for horses
No huffing and puffing is going to blow down the new exhibit in Sewall Gallery -- at least anytime soon. Then again, this artwork by Michael Shaughnessy is no straw house.
It is, however, straw -- or hay, that is, that rustic stuff used as fodder and for centuries as thatching -- and, most lately, as the medium of An Caoin Ardaigh (Gaelic for The Gentle Rise ), which the artist and a large number of students and other volunteers created in the gallery over the course of a week.
The sculpture belongs to the genre "installation art," in which a piece is created and dismantled on site for a particular exhibit. Shaughnessy has the intended home in mind when he designs each sculpture. He takes into consideration the shape, lighting, style and social context of each art space, ultimately creating a work that is individualized to its environment.
Shaughnessy's most recent works have made use of a wooden frame which is wound with binding twine. Hay is interwoven to form a structure that is supple and, despite its apparent mass, very lightweight. The process ties Shaughnessy to the traditional professions of his family, farming on his mother's side, architecture and sculpting on his father's.
Shaughnessy developed the technique in graduate school at Ohio University, and it has grown with him through subsequent moves and professorships, including his current position at the University of Southern Maine.
Hay is an inexpensive material, separating it from "high-brow" media such as bronze and marble. Hay's peasant associations fit with Shaughnessy's effort to bring art into the common sphere.
Aaron Bielish, a Shepherd School alumnus who helped create the work, recognizes this theme in the creation process as well as the physical sculpture. "What you see here is only half of the artwork," Bielish said. "He's looking for a community to come together and create an artwork ... All of the things you're doing right now -- smelling, touching -- are things that I did." Approaching the gallery through the outer courtyard, one can see the end of the piece behind glass doors, a gigantic globe of hay framed by the building's archways.
The sculpture's shape is evocative, powerful and non-representational. The brown color of several coarsely woven bags which accent the work provide a contrast to the green-gold hay and adds what Shaughnessy calls "a sense of utilitarianism."
The exhibit includes a video, a computer display which include pictures of this work's construction and a link to Shaughnessy's web site.
An Caoin Ardaigh , being a one-piece show, lacks the complexity and diversity that would draw me many miles to see it. As a beautiful and fleet- ing addition to our art-starved campus,this sweet-scented work deserves a warm welcome.
This item appeared in the Arts & Entertainment section of the February 2, 1996 issue.
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