Madeline Ernest:  In Her Own Words, 2013

Basswood, gesso, markers and push pins, 42 x 74 in. (106.7 x 188 cm)

This work is an installation piece based on the Warren Preservation Society Oral History Project.  The transcript of Mrs. Ernest’s oral history interview was used to form the text portrait that was written in script on strips of gessoed basswood.  Using a variety of marker weights and shades of gray, the written transcript was developed into a comprehensive large scale portrait of the subject.  The view can stand up close to read the transcript or move away to reveal the image of Mrs. Ernest.

Anon (36 x 3) 108 Times: Motet in Green with Three Large Panels 2010- 2011

Three oil paintings on hardboard measuring 72.5 x 47.5 in. (184.2 x 102.7 cm) and 108 mixed media sculptures made from basswood, acetate prints and 18 inch tall table number holders.  

This piece explores  the notion of appropriating anonymous images from video found on the Internet.  The original video was of a young women, lit by the glow of fluorescent lighting that lasted for several minutes.  There was no sound and do indication of the content of the discussion -- other than the girl’s expressions.  This work also explores the themes of repetition, scale and the use of non-traditional materials and means of display.

Anon Men: Diagnosis 2012

Acetate Prints with Medical X-Ray Light Box Stands

This piece explores continues the exploration of appropriating anonymous images from posted and streaming video found on the Internet similar to the Anon (36x3) 108 Times installation. This piece incorporates acetate images of different men based on selected frames arranged on a series of illuminated Medical X-Ray Light Stand Boxes in a semi-darkened installation space.

Allegory of Friendship 2012

Mixed Media:  Wood 4”x4”, acrylic paint, wire

Allegory of Friendship is a collaborative community art project.  Citizens of Rhode Island East Bay communities and other associates painted individual, semi-autobiographical block elements.  These elements were suspended from 3mm wire and combined as a group to form a coherent whole.  The finished piece reflects the maritime cultural, commercial and historic roots of the Narragansett East Bay.

Nude Dancing in a Liquor Store, 2009

Mixed Media:  Bass Wood, Acetate prints,15” Chrome Table No. Holders

This piece explores the use of appropriated anonymous video from the Internet that is transformed in scale and narrative through the change in medium.  The original video, shot by an anonymous women of the anonymous female subject, follows the subject through an urban setting and into a liquor store where the women revels the store clerks by stripping and dancing in the store.  Transforming the video into a series of still transparencies has references in art history (Duchamp, Warhol) and jumbles the original narrative of the video into series of small staccato vignettes, open for reinterpretation.

RESIST - LISTEN, 2017

Wood, Plexiglass, acrylic paint, rope, and pulleys, 23 x 74 in. (58.4 x 188 cm)

Produced for the RESIST Exhibit at Van Vessum Gallery, Tiverton, RI.  This is an interactive piece that invites the viewer to perform the act of “resistance” while prompting consideration of other elements involved with effective resistance.

Against the Waves, With the Tide, 2009

Mixed media, paper, acrylic paint, modeling clay 48 in. x 70 in.

Based on a recurring dream, this piece combines a collage of enlarged torn pages from an “official” government instruction for retiring out of military service with visual references to art that has influenced my own work over the years.  The central figurative sculptural element is juxtaposed and embedded within the collage.