TRACY CASAGRANDE CLANCY (OH)

Collective Memory: Esmerelda, encaustic, plaster, metal leaf, oil, shellac, 14 x 16.5 x 6.5 inches

Price: $1950.00 + $45 shipping fee

ARTIST STATEMENT:

When I read the show theme for Encaustic Art Institute’s Flow exhibition, I experienced a sense of thrill, as if finally understanding what had been happening right before my eyes. I’d been struggling with a certain piece, part of a larger collection, that was completely different from its predecessors.

This one arrived late to the party, unannounced and unwelcome. Persistent, INSISTENT even, she made herself known. Unapologetically, Esmerlda claimed her place as the sole cast of a woman’s back (and rear end) as she elbowed her way into a twelve-piece series. A series of BUSTS.

Please allow me to introduce my work, “Collective Memory: Esmerelda.” She seems to have materialized for the sole purpose of expressing what it means to be in a state of flow. She represents the very incarnation of the idea that one feels a sense of well-being– a true peacefulness, when in the zone. She enjoys a sense of belonging; a rightful feeling of unquestionable purpose. Created from a subconscious place, I didn’t even think to question her difference from the others. She belonged here. She would be part of this tribe, damn naysayers be damned.

It is safe to say that she is comfortable in her own skin (welcome ornot). From the beginning, Esmerelda declared her role as the lead dance partner. I’d quietly assumed she would be a continuous, one-piece cast. I diligently casted. And then I re-casted. I re-casted yet again and the cast broke into two pieces. “Fine,” I muttered, making my way to the trash bin. Just short of the trash, a quiet nudge encouraged me to try using both “broken” pieces, two parts of a whole. So much for my assumptions. 

Esmerelda demanded my letting go of expectations from the very beginning. In fact, she pushed back at my urge toward a literal figurative translation by insisting on a sensual crook in her hips– go with the flow, she said. And that crook in her hip? It served as a perfect place for my hand to rest as she seduced me into her slow, unhurried, hypnotic dance, her flow.

Return to Flow main page.