art delivery : 02.17.24

Clay, chalk pastel pigment, acrylic paint, wire, cellophane, resin… and that’s just the materials list for the melted popsicle! Today’s member spotlight is shining on Massachusetts based artist Judith Klausner. Her interest is finding beauty in things that have “gone bad”, and then painstakingly sculpting each object by hand. I love so many of her pieces (that pigeon and his lunch?!), but I really want to share Judith’s thoughts behind her recent potato-ish self-portrait, titled “I Cannot Be a Meal, But I Can Be a Garden”:

“When you get a potato, you have a set idea about what it's supposed to be and why it's useful. Say you're going to use it to make hash browns: that's how it succeeds as a potato, by being hash browns. If the potato sprouts, suddenly it's not useful for that anymore. It's ruined. You have to completely shift your outlook to what it can be now - a houseplant, a way to grow more potatoes - for it to once again be something of value.

That's very much the process I've gone through with my life as a disabled person. Growing up, I knew I was going to have a career. That's how success was measured. And then... I couldn't. So I thought I was useless. It took me a long time to realize that I still have value, from my love and friendship to the art I put into the world.

Sometimes I still mourn the hash brown I thought I was going to be, or worry that people think a house plant is less than. But I've come a long way to seeing the value in my houseplant self. I cannot be a meal, but I can be a garden.”

Isn’t that beautiful? You can follow Judith on Instagram at @miss.mantis.

Have a creative, lovely weekend ~ Danielle