The philosopher Simone de Beauvoir said: “One is not born a woman, one becomes one.” My work deals specifically with how we, as a culture, become women (and men) and what from our shared and unique histories - interpretations of literature, family artifacts, or the community of people in which we were raised - have had part in the shaping of those roles.

os·su·ar·y (osh-oo-er-ee). noun: repository of bones. from Latin, first known use 1658

For this project, hundreds of artists will create a single bone, a cluster of bones, or an art work that is inspired by, uses, or plays with the idea of bones. The contributions may be political statements and personal elegies, memorials to individuals or statements about mortality. They may represent connections to our ancestors and/or to our descendants. Some will be serious and some will use bones in a completely playful manner.

Ossuary was inspired by the repositories of bones that have accrued in countries like Cambodia and Rwanda where mass violence has taken place. But Ossuary is not a project about those traumas. Rather, I believe that artists counter images of pain with hopeful or poignant rejoinders. Envisioning hope for the world is one of the things that art can do.
-Laurie Beth Clark, 2011

The piece to your left is my contribution to Ossuary, and entitled Rattle. Inspired by fairy tale skulls, metamorphoses, and longing, and a Danny DeVito quote "There are two dilemmas that rattle the human skull: How do you hang on to someone who won't stay? And how do you get rid of someone who won't go?"

The first group of works will be installed at the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, Wisconsin as part of a group show that opens on February 3rd and runs through April 1st. Please join us for the opening reception on February 3 from 530pm to 730pm.


Visit my Etsy shop for the occasional SALE and follow me on Twitter to win artwork!!