Clarksville, TN –The walls and risers at the Planters Bank Peg Harvill Gallery of the Customs House Museum currently display Mindy Herrin’s surreal creations. A metalsmith from East Tennessee, Herrin creates sculptures and jewelry.
White faces and bodies of silver and bronze are featured in pieces such as Training Wheels. The concept of Training Wheels started with a ring designed to run over the table upon the wearer’s finger. Herrin explains “This piece depicts life’s journey, the unexpected bumps and turns along the road. The cage form represents the body as a restrictive vessel that does not always perform as one would want. Growth is illustrated in the plant form within, and the rope as the connective tissue to the surrounding world.”
Mindy says, “Over the past few years my work has explored multiple fabrication techniques, and the combination of metal with alternative materials. Organic by nature, these forms use materials for their tactile properties creating pieces that move, have the appearance of flesh, and hint to the adventures of being female in everyday life. I use elements of nature and the body to create narrative objects, jewelry, and sculpture. My pieces are fabricated, or made from parts in order to contrast organic and mechanical imagery. I use mechanisms to creature visual structure, perform a function, or define a restriction. For me it is necessary to cross the lines of reality when describing a concept, or idea”.
Herrin received her MFA at Indiana University and now teaches jewelry design and metalsmithing in the Department of Art and Design at East Tennessee University, The Surreal World of Mindy Herrin will be on exhibit through January 5th. The Customs House Museum is located in historic downtown Clarksville, Tennessee.
For information on this exhibit, contact Terri Jordan, Exhibits Curator, at terri@customshousemuseum.org or 931-648-5780.