Jennifer Hecker

Lives and works in Brockport, NY, USA

Artist statement

My current work refers to the existential threat of global warming. Performing rain dances to make it rain or placing a rosary on a bush to keep rain away on a special day, humans have often tried to affect the weather. Sadly, we’ve succeeded. Severe droughts, rising sea levels, and more frequent cataclysmic weather events are all attributed to climate change caused by the actions of humans. Tools refer to human activity as tool use has traditionally been cited as one of the things that separates humans from other animals. In my work, shovels are used to collect precious dew and hail; raindrops and flurries are raked; clouds are funneled into rain or snow---poetic attempts to control weather. The futility of the implied acts---such as raking flurries, shoveling dew---speaks to both the overwhelming nature of the problem, as well as to the meagerness of our responses to the crisis. The fragility of glass as the medium underscores our vulnerability

Artwork