Wendy McDermott

Eve is a spectacular installation created by artist, Wendy McDermott, who is also currently teaching at Academy of Art University, Richmond Art Center, and Contra Costa College. It is manifestation of her interpretation of being a woman and a mother. Innocence, pain, joy, sorrow; the diamond ring, the pearl necklace, marriage, hot flash... The installation was created for her graduate thesis study at San Jose State University and brought to you by Lireille Gallery for her outstanding work and dedicated to all women and motherhood in observation of Mother's day, Sunday, May 9th, 2010.

AND YOU WONDER WHY I'M CRANKY...

This body of work seems to have evolved directly from and is attributable to my personal experiences as a wife and mother over the past twenty four years.  It also encompasses the stories of countless others who have followed similar paths - partly chosen bythem and partly chosen for them by traditional societal values and expectations.

The pieces shown here are emblematic of the outer trappings of femininity and fashion while offering content that is characteristic of the internal struggles of maternal existence.

My previous work was characteristically functional – as wearable art – objects of adornment – with more thought given to design and commerce than to emotional or intellectual content.  This is in keeping with generations of women that produced functional art for themselves and to sell – utilizing ornament and pattern – to beautify as well as to record their culture, religion or history into objects that they used every day.  This “women’s work” imbued with these archival qualities has historically been rich with political and personal significance.  (And, sometimes, it is merely decorative).

While I continue to investigate the realm of human adornment, I have now arrived at a different perspective in the body of work being shown here.  This work is related to and in some ways derivative of being a jeweler and in fact, employs many of the same techniques. It exists in the framework of functional, wearable art, but is not really practical.  Thereby removing itself from the context of “craft” and into a gray area where the oft separated worlds of craft and art blend.

Though this work is intensely personal (speaking to my own experience), I like to think that it is also universal (and even slightly political), in that a wide audience of viewers can and do respond to it as reminiscent of their own life experiences.

The intent here is to fill a gap - to recognize and speak to and for those ensconced in a suburban home environment, rarely recognized for their contribution, save a yearly Mother’s Day Card.  It is presented in an attempt to foster a greater awareness among those whose lives are distant from this world – the world of women/moms in suburbia - who are uncompensated for their eighteen hour days - child rearing, cooking, laundry, cleaning, chauffeuring, scheduling, fixing, organizing, supporting, nesting, ad nauseum.   They are the hardest working, most selfless and dedicated people I know.