Karen Swenholt

Artist Statement

In my early days sculpting, I hunted form and meaning using biblical and mythological narratives. I then added my own little stories. As I sculpt, I still ask, "Who is she/he?" I am not referring to the model here but to the clay forming under my hands. "Who is she/he?" My sculpture eventually split off into visual poetry with imagery that simply is, sort of like Archibald MacLeish's line, "Art must not mean, but be." This visual poetry takes full advantage of sculpture's three-dimensional nature. It is an object in the room that takes up space like a person. It lends itself to surrealism. When I sculpt, I am making dreams with the clay. This art is a dialog between myself and God, spoken and responded to, interpreted and explored through my memory and my mind, sieved through art history and current cultural imagery. I used Bono's face for my Jesus drawing in the sand glancing up at the adulteress. Why? IDK. Somehow ideas are explored, questions are asked and answered. The sculptures are left behind; evidence of one woman's visual dialog with a living God on Earth/2026. Such sculpture speaks with the power and immediacy of dreams. Victor Hugo said, "In the Middle Ages, man had no great thought that he did not put in stone." Art is its own language. I love sculpting for the joy of building the object and for where that process takes my heart and mind.