Lucy Hodgson (born 1940 in
Damariscotta, Maine) is an American sculptor and printmaker based in the
New England and
New York City. For years, her work celebrated the emotive power of land and seascapes. More recently it focused on her anger and disapproval of the destruction of the environment, particularly by the oil and gas industry and the recent controversy surrounding
fracking and the
Keystone Pipeline.
[and the devastation of ancient monuments in the Middle East.
]
Early life and career
Hodgson attended Oberlin College
Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...
and earned an M.A. in Anthropology at New York University.[ Hodgson was fascinated by the impermanent materials used to create artifacts in pre-literate societies, and by how much care went into the creation of such ephemeral art objects.][ She is similarly unconcerned with the impermanence of many of her works; they are intended to weather and rot, and remind the viewer of the brevity of life.][ Tia Blassingame. "Sticks and Shingles: In Conversation with Lucy Hodgson." ''Espace'', no. 70 (Winter 2004-05): 45.]
Early in her career, the artist worked and gained skills at The Printmaking Workshop in New York City. Hodgson taught printmaking there as at Franklin and Marshall Collegewhere she also taught drawing..Neuberger Museum of Art
Neuberger Museum of Art is located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is affiliated with Purchase College, part of the State University of New York system. It is the nation's tenth-largest university museum. The museum is one of 14 sites on ...
, Biblioteque Nationale, and the New York University Print Collection, as well as AT&T, Long Lines, Seiko, the Manufacturers Hanover Bank, Citicorp, Atlantic Richfield Co. and Chase Manhattan Bank.[
]
Work
Media and materials
During the 1980s through 2009, Hodgson often reconstituted building materials (shingles, vinyl roofing, etc.), in addition to natural materials such a wooden stumps, twigs, and reeds. These are combined to address the "conversion of natural elements into ones that will destroy the world as we know it," as in the juxtaposition of dying trees laden with industrial steel pipes and other human-made material.[ The tension between human intention and natural forces is a repeated motif in her body of work. In printmaking, Hodgson's works are limited to small editions, as she is opposed to mass production.][
]
Site-specific works and assemblages
Lucy Hodgson's work is heavily influenced by nature. For ''Standing Remains: Remains Standing'' (1992), a site-specific work in West Kingston, Rhode Island at the South County Center for the Arts, Hodgson utilized a thirteen-foot-high maple tree trunk that was damaged by a hurricane.[ The piece was abstract, and she worked organically while carving into it with only hand tools, following the tree's natural shape, as opposed to having a fixed form in her mind.][Bousquet, Karen. "SK artist takes her biggest job yet at the SC Center for the Arts." ''Narragansett Times, Standard-Times, East Greenwich Pendulum'' (Rhode Island), 3 June 1992: 6-C.] The trunk was still rooted and alive, which provided extra challenges in the work, but was characteristic of her interest in organic forms and natural forces. She acknowledged that the trunk was impermanent, and certainly subject to change through the passage of time, but rejected the idea that art must be permanent.[ Hodgson has remarked that she is interested in trees "for their very anthropomorphic qualities."][
''Rhyming the River'' (2006), an assemblage exhibited in ''Summer Show at the Tamarack Gallery'', is a wall-mounted, horizontal triptych of cutout, interlocking wooden designs. As described by one reviewer, "While the negative spaces of the cutouts, and their overlapping shadows, create three-dimensional rhythms, the short, straight wood-grain lines offer a two-dimensional counterpoint."][Awodey, Mark. Review of ''Summer Show at the Tamarack Gallery''." ''Seven Days: Vermont's Alternative WebWeekly'', 26 July 2006.]
Shingle sculptures
''River's Revenge'' (2004) was part of the ''Sculpture In & By the River'' exhibition curated by Ann Jon on the banks of the Housatonic River
The Housatonic River ( ) is a river, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 in western Massachusetts and western Connecticut in the United S ...
in Massachusetts on the grounds of the Norman Rockwell Museum
The Norman Rockwell Museum is an art museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, dedicated to the art of Norman Rockwell. It is home to the world's largest collection of original Rockwell art. The museum also hosts traveling exhibitions pertaining to A ...
. The exhibition drew attention to the endangered river, historically and environmentally; thus, Hodgson's work was a natural fit, with her interest in the history of the region and environmental issues.[Bonenti, Charles. "River Celebration shakes up outdoor sculpture in South County." ''Berkshire Eagle'', 19 August 2004: D3.] Hodgson created a "snaking, writhing form made of New England house shingles, a testimony to the destructive power of floods," of which the Housatonic has a long history.[Bjornland, Karen. "A River Runs By It." ''Sunday Gazette'' ( Schenectady, NY), 3 October 2004: G1-G3.] She initially used shingles as bases for sculptures but became "interested in them for their own qualities."[ ''Bore'' (2005), exhibited in ''Sculpture in the Public Arena'' in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, is another lengthy structure composed of wood and shingles in a wave pattern, resembling an "undulating snake."][Lahr, Ellen G. "Art made accessible." ''Berkshire Eagle'', 15 August 2005: B1.] It portrays a tidal bore, in which the incoming tide forms waves that travel up a river or inlet against the current.[ Hodgson's wood and shingle sculpture, ''All Fall Down'' (2009), which was exhibited in ''Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2013'', likewise alludes to an "uncontrollable body of water that is open-mouthed and ready to consume and inundate anything that comes across its path."]
Recent work
More recent work, ''Pipelines and Power Stations'' (2013), concerns the destruction of the natural environment, specifically caused by hydraulic fracturing
Fracking (also known as hydraulic fracturing, hydrofracturing, or hydrofracking) is a well stimulation technique involving the fracturing of bedrock formations by a pressurized liquid. The process involves the high-pressure injection of "frack ...
, through a series of pump-like forms made of twisting welded pipes.[ Her more playful series, ''Last Stand'' (2017), consists of similar constructions but are made of boxes, cages, poured concrete, pipes, animal skulls, antlers, and other objects found in nature, which are intended to prompt the viewer to question "whether they are an industrial imitation of nature, or, through the evolution of the anthropocene, if this is what nature has become."]
Awards and honors
Hodgson has been awarded residencies in South Korea and Hungary, as well as funding from The Netherlands America Foundation (2003).[ In 2004, she was a fellow at the MacDowell Colony.][
]
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hodgson, Lucy
1940 births
American feminist artists
People from Damariscotta, Maine
Living people
20th-century American women artists
21st-century American women artists
20th-century American sculptors
21st-century sculptors