Jamie Calderwood

Lives and works in Durham, NH, USA

Artist statement

FENCE SERIES WITH SITE SPECIFIC INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION: My past work took common architectural elements (windows, stairs, chairs, etc.) and transformed them into poetically charged objects. In this series the stockade fence, a familiar feature of suburban landscaping, is transformed into a medium for expressing our shared experiences since the Covid-19 pandemic began. The installation has two parts: The first, “Fenced In,” is a site-specific building/enclosure in the center of the gallery. Made of traditional stockade fencing, this domestic guardhouse references the fencing’s historical use for fortifications. The original relationship of inside to outside becomes ironically reversed as the term “stockade” also became a term for a military prison: a structure for isolating people against their will. During the pandemic our homes became places of refuge and prisons of our own making. As the visitor walks around this domestic fort and looks through its peepholes, they will encounter objects from my own pandemic refuge/prison with which they might be able to identify. The second part of this installation is a series of paintings using stockade fencing as their canvas. These pieces play with inversions, ambiguities, and conflicts. Some of these paintings are inspired directly by the pandemic. Others are prompted by our social and political turmoil. Still others are abstract and use the fence structure itself as inspiration.

Artwork