Description
ARTIST STATEMENT
When I was a kindergartner my mother drew horses and women’s faces on squares of fabric torn from old bed sheets and used them to teach me how to embroider. Ever since I’ve been making things. My preference is to combine used and found materials to create something unexpected.
Making this piece became DIY art therapy for me. It helped me work through my past and become more conscious. Making my pain visible has been immeasurably cathartic.
While making this piece I kept returning to the idea that I’m not simply the age I am right now, but that I am all the ages I have ever been. I was reminded of Walt Whitman’s quote, “I am large, I contain multitudes.”
Seventeen canning jars became the framework for my piece/story. Each jar contains two transparencies. One is a photo of me and the other is a paragraph explaining a trauma I experienced. My age in each photo and the age I was during the experiences described in the paragraphs purposefully do not correspond with one another. Visitors may pick them up to look at them more closely and rearrange them.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Shari Gullo is a self-taught artist, writer, quilter, and naturalist. Although having lived in Lake Zurich, IL for the past 46 years, she will always regard her home state of Wisconsin as home. Her mother, who was raised during the Great Depression, passed along a passion for “making do,” creative problem solving, and figuring out a dozen different ways something could be reused before throwing it away. It’s no surprise Shari upcycles many items into her art. After having collaborated on an installation piece for Wormfarm Institute’s 2024 Farm/Art DTour she has been inspired to create large scale art and sculpture. She is currently working on pieces regarding family secrets and child abuse.
© Shari Gullo