Page 22 - The Enso Circle Continuing Residents, Exhibition Catalog, Spring 2023

ARTIST STATEMENT

Gail Higenell

EARTH, MY LIKENESS.

EARTH, my likeness,
Though you look so impassive, ample and spheric there,

I now suspect that is not all.
I now suspect there is something fierce in you eligible to burst forth, …

Walt Whitman

A ‘sense of place’ is a connecting thread that runs through most of my work.
Earth Reframed: The Seen and the Unseen is a responsive piece that considers

how I visualize our planet as ‘place’. It was created after hearing a lecture by Dr.
Sabine Stanley, entitled Fierce Planets, that focused on her current research in

the field of space science.

The exterior three panels of the work relate to the serene view of the Earth, as

seen from space. Commercial and hand dyed fabrics in blue and green hues were
used together in curvilinear patterns of landscape. In contrast, the interior two

panels express the unseen interior portion of Earth. Created using both
commercial fabrics and heat manipulated materials in warm hues of red, orange,

and yellow, the viewer is offered a suggestion of the high temperatures and
pressures associated with a fierce interior. Supporting these slices of ‘place’ is a

frame built from re-purposed wood. A ‘new geography’ of the Earth is presented,
one that holds both serenity and fierceness together as a unified whole. We do
justice to our planet by honoring both the seen and the unseen aspects of our

home and our connectedness to it.

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