Painter Lynda Hess discovered clay recently, and while she was working, she thought about the Biblical origins of men and women. This idea developed, becoming her new installation at the HiSAM Gallery x MORI Shop in the Hawai‘i State Art Museum.
See works by Lynda Hess and Masami Teraoka at the HiSAM x MORI Shop through November 30. Both will offer a free Artists’ Talk Wednesday, November 28, 6pm at the HiSAM x MORI Shop.
“Eve, she wasn’t created from the clay, she was created from Adam’s rib so I’m kind of reclaiming that we get to be created on an equal footing.”
Artist Lynda Hess got into a whole new media recently, clay. She began making flowers, and it came to her that they might be a good way to talk about women and violence against women.
Hess: Culturally, a lot of the misogyny in general about women in our culture as to do with these ancient ideas that the woman is the vessel for the man. That is both in a literal and figurative way. The woman is lesser because the man is the creative power, up until the invention of the microscope, in fact.
Hess: People believed that the man’s seed was a complete being that was then planted in the women…so again, we’re the dirt! I think that idea of women as a vessel has held us back for millennia.
The flowers Hess has made number over a hundred now. They’re white, about teacup size, and edged with red. Each flower stands for a woman victimized by violence, and Hess has designed a way for others to tell their stories as part of the piece. Hess aims to have a thousand flowers in the final installation.
Hess: To me what’s very interesting about women and very powerful about us is the adaptation, that we can adapt to almost anything. This is both in a real physical sense and an external sense.
Hess: So when I squeeze those flowers together, we can handle that. We can go big, we can go small, we can get babies out, we can handle lots of things. That’s my conceptual idea: To reclaim our power and our role in that way.
The Artists’ Talk scheduled for November 28th, 2018, 6-8pm at the HiSAM Shop will be interactive for Hess’ segment. Her partner, Masami Teraoka will also present his work.
Also on view currently at the HiSAM Gallery x MORI Shop, sculpture by Lori Uyehara. Choice examples of arts and crafts, including fashion, by local artists are always available at the shop, which has been hosting a fine First Friday party lately produced by MORI. December First Friday will be dark, with the next one is set for January 4, 2019.
