Lockheart Vase

Lockheart Vase

Holzapfel, Michelle, 1951

MH_036

2002

This form began as a dramatic, deeply lobed maple burl which was turned into a thick tablet shape. Off-lathe, the challenge was to just get out of the way and exploit the natural clefts and contours of the burl. I thought the piece was done, and I especially liked the visual tension at point where the two lobes almost touched. But I felt a stirring of dissatisfaction with this easy solution, as I often do when making ‘natural form’ vessels. I found an old Yale padlock at the local second hand store and proceeded to ‘pierce’ the two lobes and lock them together. I threw away the key.
This satisfied my desire to conjure up the ambivalence of closeness:
The two forms comfort each other like the smiling couples reclining on Etruscan tombs, as if they’re watching a movie at home on the sofa. The form embodies playful tension and willing partnership without destructive friction. Comfort alloyed with limitation.

Red maple burl, found Yale lock, 13 x 13 x 7" inches.

Turning (Lathe work)

Wood sculpture, American

Women and the decorative arts

Carving (Decorative arts)

Women artists--United States

Art woodwork

Yale Lock Manufacturing Company

Holzapfel, Michelle, 1951-

Studio Wood Art

2002

Copyright © 2019 by Michelle Holzapfel
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The permanent collection of the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA.

MH_ 284 "Recent Volumes" Statement 2002

MH_309 2004 Artist’s Statement/Inventory for Solo Show “Michelle Holzapfel”

2014-15 Catalogue for the exhibit. "Crafting a Collection" Fuller Craft Museum Recent Acquisitions.

MH_ 295 2014 Artist’s Statement/Inventory for Solo Show “From What’s at Hand”

Wood

2002 Solo show: Recent Volumes, Connell Gallery, Atlanta, GA

2004 Solo show: "Michelle Holzapfel", del mano gallery, LA, CA

2010 “The State of Craft” at the Bennington Museum, VT. With the Vermont Crafts Council and Vermont Folklife Center.

2014 Solo Show, “From What’s at Hand” at the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA. Part of 3-part exhibit, “The Stories We Tell”
2015 Gifted by the Artist In thanks for the solo show, "From What's at Hand" to the permanent collection of the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA.

2014-15, "Crafting a Collection" Recent Acquisitions exhibit at the Fuller Craft Museum.

Holzapfel, Michelle, 1951-
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA.