Collections: Museum Aquisition

Wretched Couch, 2019
Ceramic, paint, found material.
24" x 24" x 8" each
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Permanent Collection
more information

When I created Wretched Couch, I never really thought about selling it. This piece was the first sculpture to reframe how I was going about making new work, and I was in the midst of producing for an upcoming exhibition with 3 other artists. This couch was so awkward in that show, surrounded by earlier work that barely related. That said, I strangely felt good about the final outcome. It's an inelegant piece to display: two separate units distanced anywhere between 40-60". I thought, Who would want this? 

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Fast forward through the lull of the  2020 pandemic (Wretched was finished in January 2019 and in three subsequent exhibitions that year). It went on display one more time in 2021 and that's when the lightbulb clicked for what would be the new trajectory of my work. 

It seems very fitting for the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art to have this piece. During my residency at the Iowa Ceramics Center, a part of the conclusion and culmination of that time was having a piece of artwork welcomed into to the museum collection as part of the resident artist program. I really felt, at that particular point in 2015, I found my stride in figuration, so I chose a portrait bust.

Left:Collectors Deb Crerie and Kay Rasa; Center: Julia Jessen, Cedar Rapids Museum of Art Curator of Collections and Exhibitions; Right: Me

It’s heartening to know that an artwork resonates so much to a person, to have the intent to give it to a public home in this community. The two artworks are not necessarily a beginning and ending, but a foothold and refined catalyst for what's to come. I couldn't be more grateful for this moment in time.

​Below is the museum supporting description:


Wretched Couch
We form relationships with the things inside our home. If you were to itemize them all, how long would that list be? Are there some belongings that you wish weren't there? Wretched Couch calls attention to our interior relationships and holds meaning differently from person to person. Particular parts are missing: legs to stand on, cushions, backing... The only elements present are two opposing arms.