Laurie Beth Clark
University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Art (4-D).
For more information, visit LaurieBethClark.art
Rescue
The title of this piece is 'Rescue'. It is constructed from a found shoe box, found wood and a motor. The motor is programmed to run on an irregular loop, so that occasionally we here a spastic rustling in the box. I thought of the piece Rescue after I found a chimney swift with a broken wing in my back yard this summer. I put the bird in a shoe box so that I could take it to the urban wildlife rescue center. But the bird flopping around in there was distressing to me; I worried that as it hit the side of the box it would hurt itself even more. This situation is specific, yet its significance can be applied to other, more complex situations. Trying to contain a problem while always worrying the problem is worsening, feeling like the very attempt to help can be damaging; these anxieties are central to many conflicts and situations.