Artist Statement for The Prince

The fox character said to the little prince, "What is essential is invisible to the eye." Antoine de Saint-Exupery's "The Little Prince" inspired my library installation because it articulates themes I address visually. While I strive to make the external aesthetically pleasing, I do so to call attention to the internal.

For the library, I hung a large mobile under a painting of a spiral galaxy. Two characters hang from either end of the mobile. On one end, colored glass stars freely twirl around a small, finely embroidered, white silk sculpture, which suggests a playful, yet thoughtful boy dressed Edwardian style. A larger, white men's suit sitting at a table hangs from the other end of the mobile. Colored glass stars float behind the suit.

I think of my work as both installation and interactive event in which the viewer brings as much information as the artwork provides. As I became more involved with The Prince piece, I learned how to blow glass, took a graduate course in astronomy and religion at Vanderbilt University and researched Saint-Exupery's life and writing to add conceptual layers to the art.

Born in 1900 in France, Saint-Exupery loved to fly and piloted the earliest-made airplanes. He vanished in 1944 during a WWII reconnaissance mission over the Mediterranean. His remains were not found until the centenary of his birth. He wrote The Little Prince while living in America and trying to secure a position with the French army during World War II.

In addition to incorporating my own artistic concerns in the mobile, I tried to visually represent some themes Saint-Exupery articulated in "The Little Prince." The prince's transparent silk outfit alludes to the spirit rather than the body. The rose, with its embroidered and open cut-work wrapping around the vest, represents love. The bars that hold his stars curl like the snake that sent the little prince back to his planet. I chose white for the business suit because the character it refers to is not "bad," but rather, not self-actualized. He, like the other grown-ups in Saint-Exupery's book would not recognize the child's drawing as a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. He would see only a hat. He sits at a table that works as desk or bar or throne, all of which have the capability of blinding its occupant to the essential, the stars. These stars represent reciprocal relationships, diverse populations, actual stars, laughter and passion. I included a spiral galaxy above the mobile to represent the cycle of life because as these galaxies rotate, their old stars contribute to the formation of new stars.

The idea of collaboration is very important to me and I try to involve other artists as well as the greater community in as much of the process as possible. While dozens of people participated in this piece, it would not have happened without a few key members. Tom Fuhrman blew the glass. Doug Schatz shaped and welded the steel. Beata Kania created the costumes. Dave Piston balanced the mobile. Ron Ames painted the galaxy. My studio assistant, Bonnie Fortune helped throughout the project. In addition to my love of Alexander Calder's mobiles, I get great inspiration from the works of George Segal, Edward and Nancy Kienholz, Amish Kapoor, Cathy de Moncheaux, Annette Messager, Louise Nevelson, Eva Hess and Ann Hamilton.

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