Are you an artist, arts organization or venue?

artist

What town do you live in?

Amherst

In which disciplines do you work or exhibit?

Photography, Sculpture

Artist Statement/Bio

ARTIST STATEMENT
Art for me is where science and the spiritual connect. It is the common thread found in all areas of my life, from dissecting cadavers late into the night during my undergraduate anatomy studies, which initiated a lasting interest in the human body, to the awe inspiring act of growing and raising children that opened up an insatiable sense of wonder.
The content of my work is a commentary on understanding the human animal. I look at how we define ourselves, from the amazing process of conception on, asking the questions "when do we become human, and what does that actually mean?" My work reconciles humankind's alienation from the grounding base of nature and contemplates the rhythmical and essential work of the homesteader.
I am deeply influenced by New England-camping in the deep fog banks on the coast of Maine, raising sheep on a pastoral hillside in Massachusetts, hiking the Green Mountains in Vermont, or raising honeybees in my childhood fields of Connecticut. This is evident in the textures and colors of my paintings, photographs, sculpture and installations. My materials- honey, wax, wool, viscera- come from the farms that surround me and are chosen not only for their aesthetic qualities but also their low impact on the environment. The sensory possibilities of the material grounds one in reality where the medium retains its physicality, but it also takes one to an unidentifiable place; an imaginative, internal, maybe ancient place. The teeth and hair from my children, love poems written to my husband, even the fur from the animals in our family all visibly or invisibly personalize my work and tap into a primal response that provokes a visceral recognition and an internal shift.

Website

http://www.nancymilliken.com