Mira Putnam

Lives and works in Brooklyn , NY, USA

Artist statement

Big What can you do when your five senses are not enough? -Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation Throughout human history the incomprehensible is almost always explained by the existence of God, interpreted through religion. Humanity has sought to know God through art, literature, music, but what are we seeking if God does not exist? What if the goal is not to know or explain, but to get beyond the explainable, as mysticism is to theology? I don’t have an answer to these questions, but this beyond space is where I make things and why I make them. Describing a mystical experience of his own, psychiatrist and author of Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind Richard Maurice Bucke accounts “I saw that the universe is not composed of dead matter, but is, on the contrary, a living Presence”. The Universe is just as alive as any god and I want to know it. Let’s look at the Universe. Looking is the purpose of both the telescope and the artist. The artist sacrifices the accuracy of a telescope for a tactility that inspires understanding and makes remote things (people, places, ideas, time) accessible and felt. I can look at a composite photograph taken by the James Webb Telescope and “know” that I am looking at the universe 13.5 billion years ago, but I can’t actually conceive of a span of time that vast through my little screen. 13.5 billion and 13.5 million occupy the same definition of “big number” in my brain despite being thirteen billion four hundred...

Artwork

• god's hazelnut is a black hole, 2023. aluminum cans, resin, dowels, fiberglass, grout, marbles, stoneware [glazed and un], hot glue, refrigerator parts, Styrofoam, acrylic paint, paper, map pins, metal brackets, zip ties, sticks, twine, poster board, sugar globe, potting soil, simulated Mars regolith, potato, pipe bracket, plastic fruit container, shells from Sasha and Jack, Eli's drawing, orange, photos, tape, 2 rocks, notebook covers, cyanotype, handmade paper, Japanese water chestnut, plastic cup, paper cup, sand, avocado pit, avocado skins, eggshells, bottle caps, found metal, plaster wrap, copper foil, 50/50 tin/lead solder, seeds, advent calendars, found glass, pit fired stoneware, found rock/metal[?] lump, leaf, window screen, beads, cardboard, pen, pencil
• Globe no. 16, 2023. aluminum cans, resin, dowels, fiberglass, grout, marbles, stoneware [glazed and un], hot glue, refrigerator parts, Styrofoam, acrylic paint, paper, map pins, metal brackets, zip ties, sticks, twine, poster board, sugar globe, potting soil, simulated Mars regolith, potato, pipe bracket, plastic fruit container, shells from Sasha and Jack, Eli's drawing, orange, photos, tape, 2 rocks, notebook covers, cyanotype, handmade paper, Japanese water chestnut, plastic cup, paper cup, sand, avocado pit, avocado skins, eggshells, bottle caps, found metal, plaster wrap, copper foil, 50/50 tin/lead solder, seeds, advent calendars, found glass, pit fired stoneware, found rock/metal[?] lump, leaf, window screen, beads, cardboard, pen, pencil
• landscape, 2023. eggshells, avocado skins, solder, copper foil, aluminum cans, grout, epoxy, marbles, plants, dirt, bottle caps
• Globe no. 3, 2023. glazed stoneware, grout, sticks, twine, brackets, zip ties, refrigerator parts
• god's hazelnut is a black hole, 2023. refrigerator doors, ceramic, shells, grout, sand, wax
• Crabs, 2023. pit fired ceramic, a rock, cyanotype
• Globe no. 8, 2023. glazed stoneware, folding chairs, dirt, glue, grout, sand, shells, beads
• Perseverance, 2021. unglazed stoneware
• Cathedral Mound 4 (Hilde), 2022. stoneware, watercolor, gouache, fabric, cyanotype, pencil, perlite, copper
• Cathedral Mound 3, 2022. glazed porcelain, unglazed stoneware, stained glass, simulated Mars regolith, vermiculite, perlite, copper
• Webb, 2022. ceramic, plywood, aluminum foil, plants, seeds, paper pulp, pencil, gouache, plaster, handmade paper, cyanotype, pistachio shells, simulated mars regolith, cardboard, graph paper, watercolor, gouache, coffee, Elmer's glue, pen, dried flowers, cherry pits, aluminum cans, dead bugs, sand, rigid wrap, stainless steel wire, magic sculpt, brass, eggshells, avocado pits and skins, found metal, dirt, dead, savoy, lettuce, fabric, hot glue, inkjet print, copper foil, solder, aluminum foil, thread, cork, chia seeds, cheese cloth, plastic berry container, epoxy resin, water chestnuts, green apple silly sand, fake eyelashes, shells, cherry stems, magnets, doormat, mirror, contractor bags, fiberglass, steel, pipe insulation
• Sew Hurricanes Garden Fungus, 2022. watercolor, gouache, pencil, acrylic medium, crayon, dried flowers, soil from New York, simulated Mars regolith, markers, Elmer’s glue
• Emerita terebinthinas, 2020. glazed stoneware, grout, advent calendar, wax paper, watercolor, tea set, epoxy clay, metal hinges, pistachios crabs, glass
• Ecosystems are Dynamic Entities, 2019. glazed stoneware, beads, trash bags, wax, thread, LEDs
• Great Chain of Being, 2021. glazed stoneware, grout, felt, thread
• Untitled, 2021. glazed stoneware, yarn, grape stems, paper, Playmobil chair
• Chronic Wasting, 2019. found deer bones, glazed stoneware, glow in the dark stones, yarn, fake eyelashes
• Via Regina, 2019. rigid wrap, beads, glazed stoneware, wax, found objects
• Ivy Oak Acorn Poppy, 2019. glazed stoneware, toilet paper, grape stems, ink, wax, plastic hair
• Gratitude Room, 2019. glazed stoneware, found objects, yarn
• Do Termites Have Ambition?, 2021. pencil, crayon, watercolor
• Engine Room, 2019. glazed stoneware, found objects, wire