JILL STAUFFER
SELECTED WORKS
Additional sculptures and installations may be viewed at jillmstauffer.com
After the Eulogy
2021
H: 96”, W: 84”, D: 90”
Steel, plexiglass, cable
Sited at the edge of Josephine Sculpture Park's wildflower meadow undergoing restoration, After the Eulogy explores environmental restoration as a metaphor for emotional healing after a loss. The plexiglass panels display silhouettes of the flora found around the park, inviting the viewer to first recognize the absence and then search for the living flora in the environment. Both native and invasive flora are included to acknowledge that this is an early stage of the restoration plan and to honor first steps towards healing after a loss has occurred. Intended to create a defined space within the meadow, viewers are invited to stand or sit inside the sculpture. As the meadow grows and dies around the sculpture seasonally, the intention of the sculpture is emphasized as a reminder of the absent flora in winter and a celebration of regrowth in summer.
Currently on view at Josephine Sculpture Park in Frankfort, KY.
Considering the Lilies
2021
H: variable, W: 14”, D: 14”
Vinyl, paper, thread, motor, soil
Considering the lilies is my response to Matthew 6:28 : “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin”. The helical form of the sculpture allows for vertical movement as well as spinning - when attached to a motor or moved by hand the piece begins to stretch, strain, and spin. The sculpture functions as a self portrait; like it I am unable to heed the verse and continue to anxiously toil.
The Waiting Room
2020
Paper, wood, cellophane, flashlights, sound
H: 108”, W: 84”, D: 150”
The Waiting Room explores the liminal space between living and dying, imagining a version of that moment that is peaceful and imbued with a connection towards Earth. The piece shows cut outs and projections of “living fossils”, organisms that are largely recognizable on Earth today as they were hundreds of millions of years ago, such as ginkgo trees, species of pine, and lotuses. These living fossils represent the boundary between immortality and decay, while the circular motion hints at a sense of timelessness.
Eulogy
2019
Paper, thread, projected video
H: 97”, W: 107”, D: 54”
Eulogy represents absence in abundance, the idea that a full life, as represented by the projected videos of dense, living plant life, can also contain irreplaceable loss, as represented by the silhouettes of plants. The 10 styles of plant cut out represents either a loved one or a house plant in my life that has died. The piece also nods to the role of plants, especially flowers, in mourning as gifts to mourners and as decoration for funerary rituals. The projected video can be viewed here.
Grotto
2019
Paper, walls, projected animation
H: 84”, W: 84”, D: 48”
Grotto is a threshold. With a narrow entrance that only accommodates one person at a time, viewers are encouraged to take their shoes off and explore the space as a personal meditation. The walls of the threshold are high enough so that one must enter in order to view the animation on the floor. This piece nods to the tradition of the Catholic grotto as a cave-like space for prayer, retaining the idea of a secluded sacred space while stripping it of any specific religious imagery. Video footage of the animation can be viewed here.
A Little Book of Stained Glass Windows
2019
Paper, wax thread, photo gels
H: 5”, W: 3”, D: 30”
A Little Book of Stained Glass Windows invites the viewer to take an active role in assigning narrative or meaning to the book as they interact with it. Each page features a symbol in colored photo gels and the book is bound in a “Z” style, allowing for the manipulation of images to produce new colors and forms with a wide variety of combinations. The poem excerpt on the last page reads ”Put me in a high place with arched ceilings/ So that I may be admired/ And remembered/ Finally something holy/ And when I fall from that high place/ When I shatter beyond repair, ground down to microscopic shards of myself/ Throw me into the ocean/ So that I may become sea glass/ In the hopes that somebody may find me on a cold strange shore one day/ And they may feel whole again.”
If Saltwater Heals Wounds
2019
Interactive website
This is a placeholder image for an interactive web piece found here.
If Saltwater Heals Wounds acts as a digital companion piece to A Little Book of Stained Glass Windows, applying the symbols used in Little Book towards an autobiographical representation of my life. The site documents moments across my life when I found joy, comfort, or solace in the various forms of water around me. The use of a digital means of communicating personal life moments through abstracted symbols also poses an alternative method for sharing life events on the internet. Both tragedy and joy can be explicitly overshared on social media to the point that viewers are desensitized. How can we reimagine digital spaces for sharing our feelings that are intimate and mindful?
Tide Pool
2020
Paper, wood, cellophane
H: 39”, W: 20”, L: 20”
Tide Pool was created during my first time living farther than a few hours from the Atlantic Ocean. The sculpture was created out of a desire to both quench my homesickness and critique it - a piece of the ocean is brought to the Midwest, but it is an exaggerated and otherworldly representation that can only exist in memory and imagination. Both nostalgic and bittersweet, Tide Pool contains all of the childlike expectations of what may lie beneath the surface but is ultimately an illusion that references ideas of the ocean rather than any concrete ecosystem. The viewer cannot see what is inside the blank pedestal until they directly approach it and peer in to view the approximately 24” deep shadow box.
Our Wreckage
2021
H: 45”, W: 168”, D: variable
Wood, paint, wire
Our Wreckage emulates the form of a dune fence blown over and contorted after a coastal storm. This sculpture calls to mind the growing strength and threat of coastal storms as a result of climate change. The slats, which have been painted then sanded in a destructive method of mark making, also represent heat maps. Our Wreckage is an ode to any thing or person who acts as a first line of defense to an unstoppable force and asks the question of what happens when our first barriers of protection begin to fail.
Nest
2021
Fabric, fiber, thread
Dimensions variable
Nest is built of detachable stuffed objects that can be rearranged and reattached by the viewer. This interactive soft sculpture emphasizes the importance of play, curiosity, and exploration. Created in my living room in the midst of the pandemic, Nest celebrates the necessity for the softness, comfort, and play in healing during times of grief and stress.
but there is light in this also
2020
Paper, wood, cellophane, vinyl, thread
H: 36”, W: 32”, D: 108”
but there is light in this also was created out of my own desire to make sense of the chaotic uncertainty of navigating young adulthood and the COVID-19 pandemic simultaneously. While the ultimate structure was planned, each individual shape was improvised to reflect however I felt while I was making each one. Each piece was then sewn into a canopy to create a tunnel the viewer may walk through. This installation was made as a reminder to myself that there is not just light at the end of the tunnel, but that if I hold gratitude for moments of joy in this tumultuous and uncertain time, there is light in this also.