Eden McDowell's Projects

BFA Student

Major: Sculpture

Graduation Year: 2017

Artist Statement:

Materials provide a certain extension to my thoughts that cannot otherwise be interpreted via language or two dimensional representation. It’s the stark presence of an object in space that evokes a personified gesture irresistible to explore. It’s the fact that we can see, touch, and walk around something nonfunctional, yet recognizable and undefined. These sensory outputs come from my interest in seeing Minimalism in a contemporary, reworked, and elevated context—the theory that once color and materiality is applied to a Minimalist form, it no longer abides by the resistance of traditional Minimalist artists.
I’m figuring out structure as if it were skin and bones, starting with color and material, then determining its form and scale. This process provides an organic and feminine context to the cold essence of manufactured structures—a process unlike the approach of many sculptors from the era of minimal transcendance. Simplifying sculpture down to limited surfaces and color allows for the eye to not only see the structure as a whole, but to go further into concept and reveal properties that might otherwise get lost. Yet, I believe that a strong form can evoke emotion, color, and texture without trying too hard. It’s the balance of simplicity and intricacy that fuels my sculptural practice.

Biography:

Eden McDowell is an installation and object based sculptor living and working between Peaks Island and Portland, Maine. She will receive her BFA in sculpture from the Maine College of Art in the Spring of 2017. Embracing the realm of simulation and hybridized memory through the exploration of material culture, McDowell brings forth her concepts of warped nostalgia and spatial interpretation in her sculptural objects and large-scale installations.