A hope chest is a place to collect items from the past in anticipation for the future; the objects inside reflect preparation for a new phase in life. It holds family histories and ideals for a life and homes that are yet to be, and ones that have come to an end. A hope chest is steeped in tradition and has the power to evoke feelings of security, heritage, duty, anxiety and doubt at the same time.
The hope chest for me, is an object, an idea, and a feeling. It holds the domestic items that were endowed with love for us and for our lives. We cary them with us like a beautiful weight into an uncertain future.
Hope as a feeling, is the product of daily effort, just as having a home is. There is hard work, and constant effort; joy balanced with many moments of unpleasantness and of anxiety. It is the result of endurance and resilience. It is a practice of longing, preparing, working, grieving, and preparing again.
These works quietly explore the constant and connected cycles of hope and disappointment in romantic partnerships and the journey to making a lasting home.
2019
A two person exhibition with artist Rachel Doub
‘Our lives, experiences and stories lay out a complicated path.
A path marked with growth, beauty, change and struggle; one filled with humanity.
Along the way our bodies, our clothing, and the objects that we interact with show the weight, the wear and tear, and the impact of our stories.
Moments become memories, spilling out in shapes of light and patches of darkness.
Our hands callous from labor, our skin shows age.
Sweaters snag and socks wear out as they hold on to the experiences that were had in them.
Cracks form, breaks are inevitable.
Our stories become too large to be held within our bodies, the expand and fill the items we are surrounded by, the creation of a well worn path.’
documents of everyday energies
2018
In response to the universal and simple statement referencing a collection of Richard Serra’s drawings ‘work comes out of work’, Holly Kelly and Erin Tucker have created an overlapping collection of objects, artifacts and physical reflections. These works and exercises showcase records of human object interactions.
As makers, as artists, our work and our daily lives call for us to evaluate and reflect on the importance of time and energy as part of the process as well as the final product. Through these works and remnants, we expose aspects of labor, effort and a continuous cycle of growth, of change and of humanity. Independently our practices engage topics of personal interaction, mundane productivity and of intimate histories.
2015
This body of work explores personal relationships and interpersonal experiences with clothing, as well as concepts of identity and the daily construction of the self. This is a process that is amorphous and ongoing, one that is emotionally charged and loaded with contradiction. Clothing is a means of personal and social communication, a threshold to the inner self and a boundary for the physical body, a shared yet personal, daily experience.
Through the creation of object based portraits, sculptural works and installations I develop these thoughts with the use of clothing and items related to clothing storage, preservation and the home. The garments are employed as placeholders for the absent wearer and vessels for larger thoughts on existing with, and through clothing. Visually I work to develop ideas of the clothing melding with the body, and the boundaries of the flesh becoming mixed with the surfaces of the garment. This process is achieved through the breaking down of dyes and altering the fibers of the clothing to create a monotone and fleshy experience. I also connect to the tools, ideas and processes of preservation to capture the memories and experiences that one has had while wearing a specific garment.
Using my own garments as well as found clothing as the primary material in my work allows me to manipulate and control a pre-existing system of visual communication. Clothing is familiar, and visually comfortable. The garments naturally connect the scale of the work to that of a human body, pushing the viewers to have a personal experience with the works.
