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Detail: Sophia's House (First Study), 1982. Gouache on rice paper, 14" x 17-1/2" Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Lynn Denton
Witchcraft was hung, in History, It could be argued that the [enclosed]
column...may be considered especially expressive of the goddess
since it joined to its tree symbolism a specific description of
a female state of being. Thus the whole palace became her body,
as the earth itself had been in the Stone Age. During the past five years, sculptor Lynn Denton has included images of houses, trees, and vessels in her site specific installations. Just as Emily Dickinson found around her daily indications of "witchcraft" a century ago, so Denton encounters intimations of the supernatural in the mundane objects of domestic life. To the artist, cups, bowls, and enclosed spaces are both symbolic of female experience as well as evocative of goddess archetypes. For the project of Sophia's House, Denton invited fourteen women artists to collaborate with her. She recounted to them the Assyrian creation myth in which the mother goddess is cast as a potter. The world begins when the great goddess breaks off fourteen pieces of clay and gives them to women who shape into being the very first humans seven girls and seven boys. The selected artists were given no instructions regarding the appearance of their contributions. Like Denton, they were intrigued by this story which alludes to women's creative and procreative abilities. Sophia, or wisdom, is one dimension of the complex, primordial goddess who was worshipped from earliest times. Later patriarchal religions incorporated aspects of her into their beliefs. For the Morris Gallery, Denton constructed a vast "house" for Sophia -- part sculpture, part pavilion. Its open structure and stepped entrance imply a ritual setting. "Fresh-Baked Pots," a performance Denton designed for this space, will explore the identity of the goddess and the theme of woman as creator, in the Morris Gallery on Saturday, February 12 at 3:00 p.m. and on Thursday, February 17 at 7:00 and 9:00 p.m. Judith Stein Artist Statement Cups, houses, trees -- female images! Maybe the link with womb and rootedness is creative as well as procreative. What? A woman giving birth to objects and worlds? I believe some answers are found in caves, not churches. The fourteen female artists who contributed work here have approached this question directly. The myth becomes a scenario featuring an ancient part of ourselves. Sophia herself, irresistible Persona eternally present, is the connection to the here and now: she delights in salvaging what is at hand, and reminds us that any material can be transformed. You might say that all birth is rebirth; I like to think that that is what she represents. Lynn DentonChecklist Works by Lynn Denton 1. Sophia's House 2. Silver Drawing 3. Ladder #2 4. Shrine for West Wall 5. Brush Key to Works by Invited Artists These artists have contributed objects/sculpture based on the story of creation in an Assyrian myth, which forms part of the environment of Sophia's House. 1. Phoebe Adams 2. Susan Backman 3. Jill Bonovitz 4. Joan Braun 5. Uta Fellechner 6. Glenda Frye 7. Nancy Hellebrand 8. Raquel Higgins 9. Lydia Hunn 10. Eileen Neff 11. Joan Pettengill 12. Jeanne SlIverthome 13. Suzanne Wheeling 14. Lily Yoh
Selected Individual Exhibitions Selected Group Exhibitions
Acknowledgements The 14 artists who contributed works I would like to especially thank David Bauman, Grace McDermott and Linda Kelly-McDowell for the giving of much time, energy and spirit; and Sue Cady and Hal Taussig, who introduced me to Sophia. Lynn Denton The Morris Gallery displays the work of outstanding contemporary artists with a connection to Philadelphia, determined by birth, schooling or residence. The exhibitions are chosen by committee composed of area artists, museum personnel lectors, and the curatorial staff of the Academy. Currently serving on the Morris Gallery Exhibition Committee are: Murray Anne d' Harnoncourt, Jennie 0. Dietrich, Janet Kar Mather III, Dr. Perry Oftenberg, David Pease, Jody Wolgin; and Academy staff Frank Goodyear, Kathy Foster, Linda Bantel, Judith Stein. Copyright Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1983 |