Statement
The work is a cross-disciplinary exploration weighing the ominous nature of our human dilemma against that of peaceful intention. It is a broadly defined, open-ended practice where experimental combinations of materials act as a narrative describing the balance of forces in nature with the human condition.
As a materials-based producer, my studio work bridges painting, sculpture and installation art. My process links past to the present, blending traditional methods with contemporary abstraction as visual metaphor for universal concepts of interconnectedness, sense of place, balance, time, and aging. I emphasize reuse of utilitarian detritus, found and gathered objects that bring attention to issues of waste and our carbon footprint. Using materials which have had one or more lives already, I give credence to their narratives which have been developed through handling, weather and age. These salvaged materials, which often are used repeatedly for installation artworks, are combined with fiber methods so that the work is an evolution, moving from traditional and conventional uses of fiber into experimentation with non-traditional combinations of material and technique.
Traditional needlework techniques which include needle felting, stitching, knitting, knotting, embroidery are used to build my installations, soft sculptures and stitched works on paper and canvas. Many of the works are suspended as the space around the work aids in the viewer’s experience of its mass and presence. Types of fiber range from sheep fleece, roving, thread, yarn, embroidery floss, sisal and burlap and on to experimental fibers such as plastic vegetable wrappings and steel wool.
Other studio works are made from collected paper combined with objects and fiber to explore longevity, presence and memory. From delivery packaging to recovered sewing patterns to traditional, watercolor paper, these salvaged materials are like time capsules connecting us to the past and to those who have used the materials previously. For example, I use the burlap of recovered coffee bean bags which have travelled to the United States from countries such as Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Columbia and Peru and are a representation of global interdependence for goods and services. I have salvaged aluminum wire from Asheville’s utility repair crews as they work to rebuild the city’s network after Hurricane Helene. I make efforts to leave my vision open with respect to how these materials are treated once in the studio. The concept of a work develops after the materials are collected and building begins.
With inspiration from artists such as Eva Hesse, Louis Bourgeois, Magdalena Abakanowicz, El Anatsui, Isamu Noguchi, Alberto Giacometti, Ruth Asawa, and Mark Rothko, I invite light, sound, smell, and motion into the work; elements that activate our senses and form a collaboration with nature. As I focus on the balance of opposites, I equate the temporal delicacy of our lives with that of the cyclical processes of the natural world.
Bio
Molly Sawyer is an abstract artist born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. At the age of 10 years, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor which has affected her life’s work from the earliest stages. She holds a degree in ceramics from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and attended The New York Studio School and The Art Students League of New York where she focused on figure sculpture. She learned mold making and casting techniques during this time while simultaneously studying the horse in her own studio in Manhattan. This interest was sparked by the horse drawn carriages that passed her apartment throughout the day on their way to Central Park.
Sawyer’s work took an abstract turn after a diagnosis of breast cancer in 2009. After numerous years of treatment, she relocated to Asheville, NC where she began experimenting with natural materials such as rust, Spanish moss, lichen, and raw animal fleece. She would allow these organics to literally decompose in order to explore the concepts of entropy and the life cycle. As her life experiences shift, so do Sawyer’s choice of materials. She now includes in her sculptural work processed fiber as it redirects her narrative from end of lifecycle to longevity and strength.
2019 moved Sawyer into an unknown area both physically and materially as she was driven to navigate the next change in her medium, shifting into works on paper to coincide with additional medical challenges. An exploration of patina, visual texture and color through watercolor has been the result. Her abstract forms began with inspiration from stone and lichen along the west coast of Ireland. Ovalesk forms are filled with layers of color and activity. The wholeness of these forms is sacrificed as Sawyer divides the forms and rejoins them by threadwork and embroidery, creating reassembled, collagelike constructions.
Through a broad net of inspirational figures, Sawyer works to maintain balance in her studio practice. While she finds affinity with visual artists such as Eva Hesse, Louis Bourgeois, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Henry Moore, Ismau Noguchi, Constantin Brancusi, William Tucker, and Sheila Hicks, Anni and Josef Albers she finds momentum in learning about the lives and works of artists of disciplines other than her own. Her influences include those whom she considers experts in their field of creative expression: musicians, actors, chefs. But Sawyer extends her list to the doctors and surgeons who have been instrumental throughout her life. With these heroes in mind, Sawyer’s work is guided by the search for balance while her medical experiences inform the work ongoing.
Sawyer shows her work regularly in both Solo and Group exhibits. Among these are Asheville Art Museum, CAM Raleigh, Western North Carolina University, Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, North Greenville University, as well as in New York, New Jersey, Georgia, and Virginia. The National Sculpture Society in New York City awarded her the Beverly Hoyt Robertson Award. She has appeared in numerous speaking engagements as Visiting Artist and has attended art residencies in Connecticut, Wyoming, and Ireland.
Molly Sawyer’s work can be found in collections both private and corporate throughout the United States. She is included in Mandarin Hotel New York, Ritz Carlton Boston, AC Hotel MidTown Atlanta, and Mohegan Sun Casino. Sawyer’s maintains a studio in Asheville, NC where her practice encompasses both sculpture and works on paper. She is represented by Mars Landing Gallery in Mars Hill, NC and her work can be found at Marquee in Asheville, NC and The Centerpiece Gallery in Raleigh, NC.
