Artist's Statement

A few themes have preoccupied me and been apparent in my work since I started drawing as a child. One is burial, both literal and figurative, its ornaments and attendant rituals, its gestures toward closure, and its unearthed relics. Another is how we derive metaphors of process, structure and duration, likeness and difference, from images and phenomena in nature. A third is how light and shadow alter the dimensions and surfaces of material objects.

Over the past couple of years, the interrelated series of sculptures, drawings, encaustics and ‘wire drawings’ have continued to reflect these interests. The boundary between abstraction and the figure is a constant tension in my work. I want to evoke a world that addresses uncertainty and obscurity but at the same time has its own clarity. I do this by juxtaposing, layering, partially burying and veiling images, objects, and lately, words and language fragments.

I use a variety of seemingly incompatible materials such as beeswax, paper, wire, fabric and cement. They are natural products that have been employed for centuries to encase, enshrine, wrap, seal and record history. Because of their ancient applications, I feel they bring with them silent echoes and resonances from the past.

Shadows cast by my work create a distorted “twin”; another presence that takes on a life of its own but at the same time can only exist in the company of its double. Space, light and shadow are the immaterial materials that are revealed at the time of installation.

My drawings are not specifically sketches for the three dimensional work, but inform my thoughts and ideas about the sculpture.

Artist's Bio

Augusta Talbot was born in New York City. She traveled and studied in Greece 1968-1969. She attended the Maryland Institute of Art, 1969-1971 and the Tyler School of Art in Rome, 1971-1972. She received a BFA in painting from the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1973.

Talbot has exhibited in museums and galleries across the country. She had solo exhibitions at Vanderwoud Tannanbaum Gallery in New York City in 1987 and 1990. Her work has been in numerous group shows including The Sculpture Center in New York City, The Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, The John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, The San Francisco Craft and Folk Art Museum, and Braunstein Quay Gallery in San Francisco. Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art Forum, The Village Voice and American Ceramics, among other publications.