DuPree: Who Will Be a Witness
GRIDSPACE
Opening June 15, 5 PM


I am both a witness and agent to the ritual of change and transformation a process of rescuing and re-purposing materials. Yearning to explore through modest means this most recent installation, Who Will Be a Witness, consist of jute, burlap, straw, wood & rusted metal. I investigate the possibilities of these materials. This process becomes a ritual that speaks to my concepts and informs my work. Inspired by my material discoveries and my memories of travel and research of altars, shrines, and objects within them, I assemble my materials into large-scale sculptures and structures.
Coming out of a ceramic tradition, texture and earthy pigments have always played a central role in my work. I explore these concepts with wood by burning in this project. Colors inherent in the materials and the processes of singeing, scorching, and charring, limit the color palette to black, yet gives the structures a strength and grounding. My ritual of material explorations allows me to unearth and participate, again and again, in this ongoing cycle of change and transformation.