Restless Garden Stephanie Jucker 2019

The Garden of Love ©  Stephanie Jucker, mixed media on panel, 16" x 16".

Restless Garden

Stephanie Jucker

January 11–February 22, 2019
Receptions: January 11 • 5–8pm + February 8 • 5–8pm
Picnic: Saturday, February 16, 2–4pm

Curated by Lauren Bartone

“Things in the garden are making me nervous. To quote William Blake’s poem Garden of Love, I am seeing ‘what I never had seen.’ My use of garden as a metaphor is partly influenced by the iconography of a Catholic upbringing, with its portrayals of Eden, and a nostalgia for the English garden I played in as a child. I revisit that sense of play in my work, but from a place of experience. My response to feeling anxious has been to recycle materials that accumulate around me. With burnt, water-damaged, and discarded stuff, I construct symmetrically balanced compositions to reassure and ground myself. The design is informed by the geometry of insects and flowers resulting in wall pieces, books, and mobiles compositionally anchored by a central axis. From this secure core they burst with life, referencing the giddy optimism of creation in the face of a tenuous future.

The garden wants change and has ideas of its own. Whether we’ll be around to see what those are really hangs in the balance.” Stephanie Jucker