Rule

Author/Artist Name

Kendra LobbFollow

Files

Academic Level at Time of Creation

Senior

Date of Creation

Fall 11-19-2021

Artist Statement

I struggle with the need for control. I feel this was due to being raised in a broken home, where all important decisions were dictated by others. The feeling of being trapped in situations that I did not choose pushed me to find a place where I got to make the decisions and rules. I have found this in my art practice. The process of creating art allows me to make a controlled world that has order and to share it with others. I want to give my audience choices in how they interact with my work, giving them the freedom I felt I was denied.

My work consists of large-scale linear wood sculptures and geometric handheld metal objects. Conceptually, each piece relies heavily on process and the relative difficulty of completing a piece. Using process-heavy mediums is crucial to my work as it is the act of making that is how I exert control over my environment. Eventually, I am able to go into autopilot, becoming absorbed in the task at hand, as I fully have control over the process and end product. While the need for escape and control increases the compulsivity in the way I work increases, leading to self-sabotaging behaviors. The large difference in scale and medium gives separation to my work. My large-scale wood sculptures reflect the internal struggle that I have with control, putting on display my compulsive nature through repetition. My metal works are created with the intent for the audience to interact with them. Viewers are the ones that get to decide how they interact, or what a piece’s use is. I use geometric shapes as they allow for a broader interpretation of purpose because there are fewer preconceptions associated with the forms. Their set rules and predictability bring comfort.

The artists that I’m currently looking to are Dewitt Godfrey and Andy Harding. My woodworking pieces are visually inspired by Andy Harding's work. I also admire Harding’s use of reclaimed materials and actively use this in my practice, often taking others’ decarded scraps and using them in studies as well as turning them into final pieces. Dewitt Godfrey’s work is inspired by natural geometry and uses it to make rules as a foundation for his own works to follow. He experiments through the use of models and then displays them as part of his exhibitions. I have a similar tendency in my own art process using models and observational knowledge being the center of my creative process.

Advisor/Mentor

Sarah Martin; Jeanne Beaver; Todd Herzberg; Mike Martin

Description

Senior BFA Exhibitions Consisting of both woodworking and metalsmithing in about the struggle I face with my need to establish absolute control over my life but not wanting to limit others' freedoms of choices. The exhibition contains Eight title works. Four movable handheld metal objects, created from copper, nickel, and brass. These tiny sculptures were intended for viewer interaction, to inspire freedom through discovery and choices. There are also two large wooden sculptures, an arrangement of studies in wood bending, and a collection of "Small Blues" called the "Small Blues Army".

Photo Credit

Kendra E. Lobb

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Lobb, Kendra, "Rule" (2021). B.F.A. Practicum Exhibition (ART 498). 91.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/art498/91