Work in progress. Commissioned for Huntsville Amphitheater by Venue Group. To be installed April ‘22.
Artist’s Statement: I love how large scale works can shift our sense of scale and place in the world. With this series, I wanted to really bring home the fact that we aren’t the biggest or most powerful forces on earth. With this particular youthful giant, popping her head up, curious about our world and us, I wanted to give people, who are so often casting themselves as the observers, the chance to sense themselves as the observed. Another thing that delights me about this giant muse is the sense that she plays between worlds. From a young age, I needed to understand how to move between differing cultural norms, and I’ve always felt resonance with others who shared their own unique understandings of moving between worlds.
For this and the other piece in my Giantessery series, I chose to hire a crew of all women, trans men, and non-binary people. In the venues where I started making large scale sculptures, crews were still almost exclusively male. I want to create opportunities for people who were socialized female to lead with and develop their metal and wood working skills on the job in a creative setting. To make this a truly supportive environment, I am also attempting to shift cultural norms around building and fabrication. Though we are certainly mighty capable of working long strenuous hours, outdoors, through all kinds of weather, we don’t have to. We are approaching our process with a body-friendly nourishing approach, where we’ll work four hours a day over a longer duration, making our outdoor build in Oregon’s wet winter more manageable, allowing people with various family, work, and physical needs to participate.
Lead Artist/Creative Director/3D modeling: Heather BeGaetz
Artists: Julia Alora, Miki Masahura-Page, Insa Evans, Brittni Ballou, Sheba Queen, Sara Tone, Kinsey Smyth, Jess Jurries, Allessandra Lione.