Joan Schwartz sculpture and web design

information/knowledge/wisdom
2008, 90” x 90”
1985 Encyclopedia Britannica, nylon mesh

“information/knowledge/wisdom” explores the connections between these three ways of knowing and the ways in which we access them. It embodies the shift from linear ways of finding out about the world to more intuitive, multi-dimensional and interconnected modes of understanding, and asks how we move into wisdom.

As a child I gathered information by going to books or encyclopedias – volumes lined up in rows. I looked up a subject, and tried to relate what I read to information I had accumulated from other sources and from my experience. If I had the spelled something incorrectly, or if in some other way my idea of the topic did not exactly match the way the text had organized it, my work was quite difficult. With the arrival of the worldwide web I could search more intuitively, make connections and access sources I might never have dreamed of on my own, and, if my spelling was off, Google helpfully suggested alternative ways of finding what I needed.

For most of my adult life I have also explored meditation as a path to wisdom. Through careful, conscious attention to the breath, or some repetitive simple task – such as weaving the thin strips of paper into this web – I begin to get some notion of the workings of this human mind/body, to “get out of the way of myself” and to begin to live with an inkling of the understanding of impermanence, deep interconnection, and compassion that are the very core of wisdom in all spiritual traditions. ______________________________________________________________________

Joan Schwartz is co-director of Studios Without Walls. Recently Joan’s Skyscape, woven of plastic bags, was selected as one of six commissioned sculptures by the Brookline Office of Economic Development’s Illuminated Art Project and installed in Brookline Village in winter 2007. Her collaborative work, A Tree Grows in Brookline, constructed of newspaper, was installed in the lobby of Brookline Town Hall for six months in 2006/07 and transformed monthly by artists from Studios Without Walls using a variety of recycled materials.

Joan has received commissions from the Boston and Milton Arts Lottery Commissions, the Cambridge Arts Council, and First Night Boston, as well as private collectors. Her work includes quits, helium balloon-filled floating sculptures, paintings, artbikes, and ceramic sculpture, as well as site-responsive installation.

Joan co-founded the Loon & Heron Theatre for Children, designing masks, puppets, sets, and costumes for the company’s award-winning productions of fantasy and fable. She performed professionally with the dance companies of Kei Takei, Meredith Monk, Barbara Roan, and Frances Allenikoff. For more information see: http://studioswithoutwalls.org/joans.

installation view of information/knowledge/wisdom in the Public Library of Brookline, Coolidge Corner Branch.

click on image for larger/higher res image

My sculpture reflects my interest in the interaction of space and form, inside and outside, body and spirit, and the nexus of science, technology, and art. As a former dancer I am drawn to the nuance of gesture and the ability of the body to communicate through subtle changes of position. As a writer who reports on the results of contemporary scientific research I am fascinated by the endless complexity of relationships in the natural world. As a lover of mythology and the stories and art of indigenous people throughout the world I see a continuous process of — human, plant, animal — and elemental forces — earth, air, sky, and water.

My installations respond not only to their immediate physical environment, but also to the time and space in which we live. Increasingly I am drawn to use recycled and recyclable materials to point to the enourmous amount of needless consumption in our daily lives.

My process in clay is derived in part from the pottery traditions of the Hopi and Navaho people. I work primarily in terra cotta, because it is "the earth itself." I hand build the sculptural forms, coiling and smoothing in traditional ways, but guiding the walls in non-traditional directions. I finish the pieces with multiple washes of oil paint, building subtle layers of color as the pigment is absorbed into the body of the fired clay. Although my starting point is often a live model, I generally work with only a single body part or portion of the torso and allow the growing sculpture to transform, turning inward, changing direction, elongating, or contracting, to follow the inner logic of its own creation. My sitting figures grow from my own experience in meditation practice.