Closet shelves that bend, crutches that teeter, and dish towels that toil endlessly may not seem like art at first glance, but in Lisa Walcott’s hands, the ordinary becomes a stage for humor, strain, and unexpected beauty. Her latest exhibit, Spare, opened Wednesday, Nov. 5, with an artist presentation and reception at Saint Xavier University’s (SXU) Gallery.
Walcott says the show draws heavily from her own experience balancing multiple roles. “A lot of this work was inspired by my experience as a woman playing many roles, including parent, teacher, and artist. In an attempt to do all things well, the strain is inevitable, and it particularly caught up with me during the pandemic shutdown when all of these things were happening in the same space, literally on top of one another,” she says.
She describes the work as a kind of visual autobiography. “I was teaching online at the table where I made drawings and fed my toddlers. It is about needing to do multiple things at one time and the shape that might be required to make that happen. There is strain, but there is also humor and joy.”
Originally from Holland, Michigan, Walcott studied studio art at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, with minors in graphic design, art history, and philosophy. She earned her MFA in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Spare includes eight sculptures and six drawings created over the past four years. Walcott explains, “The sculptures are mostly created from everyday support structures such as closet shelving, drying racks, and crutches, which I bend, break, and mend in a very physical process that lets the pieces form intuitively and appear skeletal. That is part of the reason I named the show ‘Spare.’ I was also interested in how ‘spare’ can reference both lack and abundance. If you have extra of something, you have some to spare. If you save something, you spare it. If there is a lack, you might end up with a surplus quantity.”
She says her work transforms familiar household items to reflect the effort involved in care. “I like to take utilitarian objects like shelves, stools, crutches, and racks and improvise with them, bending and straining them to reflect the effort and balance involved in care. Some pieces include motors, fans, or motion sensors, creating subtle movements that mimic the repetition and persistence of daily tasks.”
Walcott adds, “I am drawn to overlap, ambiguity, and complication, places where one thing can also be another. Slippery language, hybrid objects, and contingent gestures guide my process in creating work that resists certainty. In this work, there is strain, precarity, and overwhelm, but there is also humor and quiet successes.”
During the reception, Walcott discussed the work that led to Spare, the process for creating the gallery pieces, and her new studio directions, which include craft-based processes like broom making and basket weaving.
She also has current shows at Kendall College of Art and Design in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.
Spare is public at Saint Xavier University, 3700 W 103rd St, Chicago, until Dec. 6.
