(Click images for Notes)
This is a group of objects that I created as a kind of art playground while we raised our children, Cy (12) and Avery (9). Everything here was basically fun to make, and it was often made with and around our children. The “Afternoon” of the title refers to a time of day that I associate being with my children. Nighttime was when they were asleep and I could also have better lighting control for studio photographs. Afternoon was like a creative playtime. I could have little things out on counters, outside of my studio. Avery watched me melt the swan. He thought it looked delicious. He also reported to me that he had started a “Weird Dads Club” with his friend.
The little sculptures lived on kitchen tables for periods of time, often in the form of some grotesque blob of something drying on parchment paper with a note: “please do not touch -thx!” They dried, then went on shelves and accumulated. I like rearranging shelves with new objects and studio clutter.
In 2020 I was able to show some of these thanks to Eben Haines and Delaney Dameron, who created the Shelter in Place Gallery. After that experience I was inspired to keep making and showing this group.
Press: “Untitled Afternoon” Blends Art and Life by Claire Ogden