Sherri Cornett - Sculptor

Sherri was interviewed in early September 2009 by Dafna Michaelson, through her 50 In 52 Journey "to find the people in America who are problem-solvers, idea-generators, people in their communities, in their cities, and in their states who are moving America forward." Click here to view the interview.

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Ancestresses and Wise Women Interview

November 2007 

Q:  How did the idea for this show evolve?

A: The project's genesis was two-fold.When my father died in 2006, I listened to audio tapes of stories he had recorded of his relatives, mostly the strong German pioneer women. It struck me that, no matter how much I have moved and traveled, much of who I am has roots in who they were and the lessons and advice they gave.

Around the same time I was having conversations with younger women at the local university, MSU-B, about women's rights and history. It caused me to look back at how I had learned of these things. I found more women, beyond my relatives, whose actions and writings, leadership and workshops had influenced my beliefs and helped me grow stronger as a woman and as an individual.

Q:  Who are the women you have depicted in the sculptures of this

            show?

A:  They begin with my ancestresses such as my paternal greatgrandmother Emma, who shed an alcoholic husband, raised her two daughters and sent them to college, built a successful dairy from the ground up, bucked community sentiment by hiring a black man as her manager and showed me that a woman can change her life for the better and be ambitious. I have sculptures of my both of my grandmothers and my mother. There are sculptures of older friends, suchas Elsa, now in her 70s, who expanded my concepts of culture, gourmet cooking, performing arts, literature and pursuing dreams and Clyde Connell, a Louisiana sculptor.  Authors, artists and activists such as Gloria Steinem, who reached me first through her establishment of Ms. Magazine as a voice of feminism, Judy Chicago, who helped bring women's accomplishments back into the historical record, Jean Shinoda Bolen, who lead a Women's Wisdom retreat at Feathered Pipe Ranch, which I attended right after weaning my last child, and Anais Nin, who wrote lyrical prose from a woman's experience and with a woman's voice. And, of course, Marion Woodman, also a Jungian analyst, whose writings inspired my first installation entitled Chrysalis. As I thought of each woman, symbols of her life came to me of her skills, her hobbies, her physical presence, her message, her lifestyle.

Q:  How would you describe the materials, form and layout of the installation?

A: The installation is made up of 12-20 life-sized sculptures of welded steel, with wooden cores and other materials  (fabric, yarn, books, copper, fishing rods, shotgun shells, books, shovels, podium, lyrics, maps...) symbolic of the women of whom I have made the sculptures. Each of the sculptures has a central core, the basis of which is a wooden fence post, which I have carved, painted and/or embellished. I have been influenced in many ways by Judy Chicago, who, in this case, talked about the use of a central core in feminist art as symbolic of the central definition of being a woman. There is also a reference to the ancient Greek sculpture form of the Kore, the immortal reminders of the virtues of the deceased, whose form tended to be rigidly vertical and brightly painted. The fence posts, besides being a locally available resource, also form the boundary of the circle, in this case the women's circle. This element combined with the steel in the external structures is representative of strength, backbone, and life not bent low by experience. The pieces average seven foot in height - a measurement slightly taller than human scale and, thus, somewhat protective and overseeing. The text element is influenced by Judy Chicago and Louise Bourgeois, who both included some form of text in their work, as well as text-based artists such as Barbara Kruger. The form of the installation is a circle, referencing women's circles, the circles of support groups, consciousness-raising gatherings...It also sets the stage for the dialogue portion of the show. The sculptures are placed in groupings, roughly categorized by my family, my friends, authors/leaders, and then more general forms of women such as the Kali/Black Madonna or female songwriters. Under each grouping is a canvas runner and behind are hung panels, which are either blank or have"words of wisdom" written on them.

Q:  You have a dialogue portion of this show. How does that fit in with art?

A:  As contemporary/conceptual art has evolved, some artists have increasingly moved beyond the traditional making of and placing of art in a museum or gallery. And artists that feel strongly that art should be of some use to the world, i.e., have some meaning and/or make a difference, have moved into performance art, such as Yoko Ono's Cut Piece in which she invited the audience to cut pieces of her clothing off as she sat passively in an experiment with issues of peace, materialism, and the  sadistic/masochistic parts in all of us. Some artists, who believe in the relationship between art and the politics of the world, have taken this further with "conversational art" or "dialogue based public art." These artists see themselves as creators and facilitators of getting a group together to discuss, to help people work through issues, to develop insight in a setting that doesn't present pre-formed opinions and judgments to get in the way of oppositional groups identifying with each other.

Art historian and critic Grant Kestor believes that the very act of participating in "discursive encounters" makes us better people. It helps recover the increasing loss of the ART of conversation. An example of dialogue art is the piece Suzanne Lacy and other artists created in Oakland,California called The Roof is on Fire. Their goal was to create a safe place for young people to speak honestly to the police about their fears, concerns and stereotypes. The conversation between these two groups was viewed by the media and about 1,000 audience members. It resulted in further workshops and a training video for the Oakland Police Department.

The dialogue part of my show is an extension of the sharing of wisdom which I and my friends have received. I now feel lucky that I grew up in a time when feminist issues were more openly discussed. The women circles, the conversations with women elders, and the consciousness raising groups of the past aren't as available now, at least in many places,  to help younger women become aware. They may be lucky to have teachers who make sure feminist history is part of the curriculum or to go into a working environment where human resource personnel inform employees of their rights and the laws that protect them. They may have colleagues who share their experience and knowledge, but without awareness, without knowing what life was like before the laws that protect them, they maybe susceptible to sexual harassment or discrimination. They may not know all of their options. They may not know their own power.

The dialogue portion of my show, when in Billings, involves friends of mine who have experience in different areas of life - women activists, women who give and who are of service to the world, women who know history and the legal aspects of life as a woman, women who have studied language and communication. I have invited them to come to the gallery along with younger women for conversation. With no particular goal but sharing of how these older women grew as women, the lessons they learned, how they became strong and, also, how the younger women view their world. Ideas, networking, sharing, common ground may result. In other venues, the dialogue portion may be adapted to the women and issues of that area. I find it interesting to think about where our ancestresses may have met to share information. Around the coffee table, the kitchen table, around the quilting frame.  Most often food was involved. I envision sharing of food at these conversations in the gallery. I think of all of these alliterative words: coffee, cookies, casseroles,comfort food. In my German heritage, there was also the Koffeeklatsch.

Q:  The pieces in this show as well as your previous Chrysalis Show tend to have concave shapes, very feminine forms.

A:  Judy Chicago wrote, "When a male artist makes a sculpture with a great thrusting member we don't see a phallus, we see thrust." She tried to use vulviform images in ways that were alternatives to objects for the pleasure of male viewing. Of course the womb is concave and protective, but these shapes are also home, altar, apse. They

invite the viewer in. I guess one could say they engulf.

Q:  And what about the prevalence of weavings of wire and yarn?

A: For me, the weaving is mostly a symbol of growth. In these pieces, the weaving and raised welds leading to the ground are the roots that connect me with that woman or archetype. Weaving is also about the interconnectedness of women. Coincidentally, I've heard that the symbol most closely associated with the women's peace movement is the weaving of webs.

Q:  Do you consider yourself a feminist?

A:  Yes, I do. The word feminist has been used by certain political and religious groups in a negative way, but I've always found it a positive, strong word. I went to high school in the late 1970s in Hudson, Ohio. My teachers were involved in or influenced by the lingering activism at neighboring Kent State and wove social protest, student movements, eastern philosophy and human rights into their classes. Feminism was a word used to define a system in which women are fully human with equal rights, a system that acknowledged that the main difference between men and women has to do with reproductive organs and, as Gloria Steinem has pointed out, means that there are very few activities and no rights that should exclude women. Feminism was a major force in postmodernism, helping to break down hierarchical categories and bring forward diverse viewpoints and traditions. I have been in women's circles, regular gatherings at which we explored new ideas and empowered each other. The form of my installation is the imagined circle of all of these women, the relatives, the public activists, the friends, around me.

Q:  You mention postmodernism. How would you categorize your work?

A:  First, I have found that categorical names are not always understood, as in the differences between modernism, formalism, postmodernism/conceptual/contemporary art and so I hesitate to categorize.  Modernism was about art for art's sake.  Artists in that tradition were not known for engaging in the world around them. And in formalism, there was nothing personal about the art; it just had to be true to the medium used. In postmodernism and contemporary art, there is a proliferation of styles and truths, more mixed media pieces and the art often makes viewers examine their perceptions. There is a greater emphasis on ideas, concepts, and symbols. The definition of art has expanded to include such things as installations, video, environmental and performance art. Though I can appreciate form and material on its own, I prefer art that is about something. I believe that art can be used to make a statement, to educate....

There is no fixed meaning in art. For example, I can tell you about my intention, but the viewer's experience is a result of his or her background, mood, etc. In conceptual art, the problems of identification and description are often the very stuff that the viewer is invited to address. I like creating installations, to make my individual sculptures a part of a larger experience. Though I consistently use welded steel, I enjoy weaving many other materials. In this show, I plan to use an audio component as well as viewer participation. My work could be considered postmodern, contemporary and conceptual. But it is also feminist art, which has been typified as elevating meaning over form and style, considers the personal experience included in art as political, and often uses non "high art" forms, such as ceramics, textiles, video, and performance.

Q:  Could you give some examples of feminist and/or contemporary artists who have influenced you?

A: Louise Bourgeois began working  before the feminist art surge of the 1970s, but I am drawn to her use of psychological concepts and methods and symbolism. She also provided narratives, such as diaries, letters, and notes in her installations. By including bits of her biography and intention, she helped the viewer have a broader, deeper experience with her work. Family friend Clyde Connell, a Louisiana sculptor, used materials available around her home at the edge of the swamp. In many of her sculptures, she created alcoves and little altars. Shirin Neshat's films about women's life in extremist Islam, Kara Walker's focus on African American stereotypes, Barbara Kruger's text art, Jenny Holzer's look at rape in the context of war. All of these female artists did art based on issues.

And I've already mentioned Judy Chicago. When I was much younger, I read about the FeministArt Program she helped form in 1970, in which she taught women artists to use tools so that they could have more diversity of materials in their art making, the consciousness raising sessions, and the use of central core imagery. Judy had received acclaim as an artist working in a formalist style, but risked that credibility when she turned toward art that represented the experience of women. That took courage and immense belief in herself. More recently, I have been introduced to the work of Petah Coyne and Judy Pfaff. They both have setup environments/installations with their art and have used mixed media. Petah's suspended sculptures can include anything from silk flowers, to sand, to hair. Judy has created spider web like structures, which attach to walls ceiling and floors.

Q: What exhibits/artists have you seen recently have made an impression on you?

A: I have had the privilege of being able to travel to many other cities to view art. In 2007, I was in London, Seattle and twice to New York City. The Tate Modern in London, with its museum-wide focus on contemporary art, and the Brooklyn Museum, with its focus on world art, contemporary and traditional, and feminist art, were both highlights. Here are some links to some of these artists and museums.

http://www.henryart.org/exhibitions.htm

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/infinite_island/

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/global_feminisms_remix/

http://www.diacenter.org/exhibs_b/bourgeois/index.html

http://www.sedersgallery.com/Artists/036/36-000.html

http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/Exhibit/exhibitDetail.asp?eventID=8879

http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/exhibitions/wallinger/default.shtm