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| margaret parker studio |
Artist Statement
For me art is about participation - how the artwork invites the viewer to
enter into the imaginative process. The space that the artwork creates
then becomes a transformational space, like the set of an opera where
epic stories unfold. In my art I attempt to make a participatory experience
where people enter a metaphorical space to become the actors, authors
and singers of their own epic. Installation in public spaces, both
temporary and permanent, have been part of my practice for 20 years
and that's what excites me most. Work that is installed in the public realm
reaches the widest audience and has the power to engage and change a
whole community.
Since 9/11, I've been exploring what it means to be human in a global
age, and what kind of space can help us create an understanding of
global humanity. What consumes me when I make art is how to express
these themes that are so complex and so pressing. If art is not attempting
to engage these themes, it is not reflecting our deepest lives.
I see myself as an American, carrying on the tradition of building a New
World.
For me art is about participation - how the artwork invites the viewer to
enter into the imaginative process. The space that the artwork creates
then becomes a transformational space, like the set of an opera where
epic stories unfold. In my art I attempt to make a participatory experience
where people enter a metaphorical space to become the actors, authors
and singers of their own epic. Installation in public spaces, both
temporary and permanent, have been part of my practice for 20 years
and that's what excites me most. Work that is installed in the public realm
reaches the widest audience and has the power to engage and change a
whole community.
Since 9/11, I've been exploring what it means to be human in a global
age, and what kind of space can help us create an understanding of
global humanity. What consumes me when I make art is how to express
these themes that are so complex and so pressing. If art is not attempting
to engage these themes, it is not reflecting our deepest lives.
I see myself as an American, carrying on the tradition of building a New
World.
All images copyrighted by Margaret Parker © 2008. Do not use without artist's permission.
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| Secrets of the Pentagon, on view in Material Afterlife April 10 through August 8, 2009 Urban Institute of Contemporary Art Grand Rapids, MI |
Escape/Return Escape/Regresso: A Participatory Installation 12'lg x 9'w x 6.5'ht, cotton T-shirts, fencing, pipe A tunnel woven out of T-shirts from Latin American countries. Viewers who walk through the tunnel follow in the footsteps of people caught in the cycle of migration across the Mexican/US border. People are invited to participate by donating T-shirts to make the tunnel longer. First installed in Home: Loving It, Loosing It, Leaving It, at the Duderstadt Center Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI, May, 2009 sponsored by the Women's Caucus for Art and the Feminist Art Project |
