“Yesterday, my daughter Ariel and I walked through our orchard. We pruned out an armful of water sprouts, those twigs that grow several feet straight up in one year on apple trees. We’re working together on a sculpture for an exhibit using apple prunings as the primary medium. Ariel is grafting tree branches, covering the largest wall in the studio while I sculpt the small figures that will populate the tree. We work in silence, usually without stopping for lunch, only speaking when it is about the process.”
—From the blog In the Studio, November 19, 2016
A few weeks ago we were once again in my studio as we prepared for our new two-person exhibit, When We Were Trees, at the Hopkinton Center for the Arts, in Hopkinton, Massachusetts. We hung Grafting A Life, our large grafted “tree,” the first sculpture we worked on together, the one that launched Ariel towards her life as an artist and her signature medium of wire. This piece was originally created for the exhibit, After Apple Pruning. Now the piece is once again on exhibit along with over fifty other works.
Grafting a Life installed in Hopkinton Center for the Arts, 2021
Gallery View, Hopkinton Center for the Arts, July 2021 Photo credit: Dayle Doherty
Ariel is showing her beautiful “Willow” and alongside my “Birthing Tree. We’ve created groupings of sculptures taking up themes such as “hands” and the “female body” as well as a new collaborative piece, “Tangled Up in Trees.” Through the mutuality and interconnectedness of our art we share how women empower each other when they connect with nature and their own bodies.
Trees, watercolor, LH; Woman, wire, AM; Tree Woman, bronze, LH
In Zen training they say, the student must surpass the teacher for the teachings to remain strong. Otherwise, over time, they become diluted. Of course, I know I am biased, but I’d say the same thing. Ariel is grafting her own life, and doing it with it poise, intelligence and great artistry.
Figures, wire, Ariel Matisse and Eve in the Tree Harp, bronze and wood, Linda Hoffman. Photo credit: Dayle Doherty
This fall, while the Artisan’s Asylum is moving from Somerville to Allston, Ariel won’t have a studio and will be working in mine. She wants to try sculpting with wax. I can’t wait to see what she will do and how we will further influence each other. In creating art, we transcend difficulties, we integrate the parts of ourselves that we have kept hidden, and we have the opportunity to tell new stories, and discover new and shared identities. When women empower women, they can heal the world.
The exhibit runs through August 27, 2021. There is a reception on Friday, August 13th and we hope to see you there. For information: Hoffman/Matisse Exhibit When We Were Trees.