Much of my recent sculpture delights in the exploration of materials and form in conjunction with ideas of fecundity and sexuality. As I have for many years, I continue to use pocketbooks and watering can spouts in my work. Pocketbooks have been, and remain, evocative forms that keep me inspired and intrigued in part because of their association with women. I see the purses as stand-ins for the body even if a direct bodily reference may not be obvious. They are personas of sorts. The watering can spouts suggest growth and nurturing, both in their form and in their actual function. Additionally, the spout form is also quite phallic, particularly when removed from the can, so it connotes an entirely other connection to growth and nurturing.

In “Fresh Purse” and the “Floral Purse” series pocketbooks and watering can spouts conjoin. Fused, I see these new forms as a melding of female and male and at the same time, as female with both masculine and feminine attributes. Either way, to me, these works, and the work in general, are the celebratory manifestations of love, sexuality, and connectedness.

Further, many of my pieces have elements that physically “reach out” to the viewer. The physical act of connecting, or the desire to connect, is the basis of this gesture in the sculptures. In “Fresh Purse” what “reaches out” are real flowers. These flowers not only extend from the main body of the piece – the purse – but they also invade the viewer’s olfactory senses. In most of my other works however, what “reaches out” are covered wires, chords, or threads which spew from spouts and cascade onto floor.

Reference to nature and the organic are present throughout my sculptures whether it’s in the floral fabrics used or the flower-like forms in “Evening Tide.” Nature has an underlying influence as it embodies many of my ideas. In nature everything is interconnected. Beauty, attraction, and form all have functions and they play important rolls in how species survive and flourish. My ideas of growth and “reaching out” also stem from the natural world.

In addition to my sculptures, drawings and collages on paper are integral to my work. Because my sculptural work grew out of drawing, collage, and mixed media, I feel very rooted to works on paper. Today my work on paper can be generally separated into two categories – charcoal drawings and collage/mixed media works. The charcoal drawings are varied images of sprays of water emanating from watering can spouts. Many of them also have some sewn embellishments. The focus of these drawings is on the gesture and force of the spray of water and how that can convey a sense of energy and movement. This action also relates to the notion of “reaching out” explored in many of my sculptures. The mixed media works on paper are quite varied and incorporate sewing and drawing with found materials: metallic thread, watering can spout heads, metal sequins, beads, etc. The images in these works play with many of the themes that I explore in my sculptures. In fact, the works on paper are often inspired by the sculptures rather than being studies for sculptures. -

Rachel Selekman 2005