Storm windows, wood, child's blocks, whitewash, paint
14'6" x 6' x 10'
Collection of the Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA
My work in the late 1970s and early ’80s reflects my interest in the vernacular architecture of New Hampshire, where I grew up and returned to live after graduate school. This work is representative of that series of pieces, the first “grand objects” I made. I began this piece at the time my mother-in-law, Grace Stevens, was diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s disease. My intention was to make a kind of walk-in lens that, metaphorically speaking, would clarify her mental condition the way eye glasses correct poor vision. In the process of making the piece, the escalator motif became central. The work has more to do with the passage from this world to the next. After completing it, I realized that the structure resembled many simple frame churches of northern New England. An especially close resemblance is Trinity Church, Cornish, NH, photographed by Walker Evens. The steeple ends abruptly without a tower or bell.