Soul Shard #30
Artist
Susan Aaron-Taylor
(American, born 1947)
Date2006
MediumCholla cactus, birch bark, fish bones, shells, raw flax and coral
Dimensions14 × 20 × 11 in. (35.6 × 50.8 × 27.9 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineGift of the artist, 2017
Object numberUAC6514
DescriptionBrooklyn-born, Detroit-based artist Susan Aaron Taylor pulls inspiration from her intuition, thinking deeply about the different ways she processes the world. From this initial observation, she synthesizes her experience with her deep knowledge of alchemy, story-telling, chemistry, Jungian psychology, philosophy, archetypes, and the Collective Unconscious.After receiving her Undergraduate degree at Wayne State, and Masters of Fine Arts degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Aaron-Taylor has taught at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, and has her work in the permanent collections of Cranbrook, Westin Hotels, and many private collections.
Soul Shard #30 is made out of completely organic materials, cholla cactus, birch bark, fish bones, shells, raw flax and coral. Aaron-Taylor approaches her work seeing the materials as "the connective tissue supporting the work", using what feels right to propel her message and her concepts forward. This piece is ethereal, with parts of it precisely carved out and sculpted, and others left natural and undone. It brings the viewer to question whose soul is this creature a shard of. Is it an individual's soul or is it reflective of a shared consciousness?
Text by Emily Lane Borden
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