Art Farm | Sculpture by Ana Flores

The making of my sculptures includes extensive walking and scavenging in the landscapes where I live, collecting natural elements such as rocks, roots, fungi and logs. These artifacts from nature begin a subconscious dialogue and what slowy emerges are spiritual and mythical narratives suggested by these found elements. The insect hollowed interior of a maple log will suggest a womb, a witch hazel branch with gnarly projections becomes a hand and the blood red, new growth on blueberry bushes transforms into veins for a piece about the heart. Ultimately, I function like an ecological archeologist, reconstructing lost images and voices that remind us of our inherent connection to the earth.

When I work with a community my working process is opened to include the participation of all those who want to be involved - like an open system in nature. The process of collaboration and shared creation is as important as the final product. Like materials that come with their own history I encourage the participants to find and share their own stories in response to our project; I consider the strengths and characteristics of the people I work with as extensions of the combination of materials that I construct with. Together we discover or create new compelling stories and images about ourselves and the places we come from. These stories and images serve to strengthen the bonds we share with each other and the earth that sustains us.