ARTIST STATEMENT
My practice involves examining what it is to love and how loving is a connective thread among us, To do so, I create works with various material supports that are 2-D, 3-D, or time based depending on the idea I’m conveying.
In the Carrying series, I document forms of carrying a child. I stack images taken from short videos of my pregnant belly, my young child on my hip, and my slightly older child on my back to reveal the continual, challenging, and rewarding nature of caring for another: the repetition, the constancy, the responsibility, and the love. I see this act with my child, while quite personal, as a representation of the parental experience in general.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Danielle C. Wyckoff is an artist and educator living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her work has been exhibited or performed internationally including at the China Art Museum, Shanghai, China; the Astrid Noacks Atelier, Copenhagen, Denmark; Morlan Gallery at Transylvania University, Lexington, KY; and Redux Contemporary Art Center in Charleston, South Carolina. She has also presented artist lectures internationally including at the University of Chile, Santiago; The Fine Arts College of Shanghai University, China; Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA; and the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects such as ReThink: I Am A Veteran, an original theatrical work at the Lawrence Art Center in Lawrence, KS and Reproductive Media, an arts-based advocacy initiative that focuses on equity and well-being in arts and educational institutions and that earned an inaugural Equity in Education Fellowship through Steelcase’s Social Innovation Lab. Wyckoff holds a BA in Art and English with minors in Art History and Technical Theatre (1999) and an MA in English (2004) from Georgia College. She earned her MFA (2010) from Ohio University. She is a Professor of Art at Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She lives with her family on the edge of an orchard that has been cultivated by their neighbors’ family for over 100 years, and combined with the proximity to Lake Michigan and frequent visits to its shores, she finds infinite inspiration, awe, and a sense of responsibility to West Michigan.
© Danielle C. Wyckoff