green heron fiberart sculptures by Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

Remaking an Unsuccessful Fiberart Sculpture

Feb 8, 2022 | Democracy Art

I consider my artwork successful when it does two things: (1) resembles the vision I had in my mind, and (2) conveys the message I intended. This does not always happen. When a sculpture is unsuccessful, I have a few choices. I can live with it, hoping it will grow on me. I can discard it, when I would be embarrassed to show it. Or, I can remake it into a new piece.

I faced this choice with Making the Voters Chicken. I was not satisfied with the work when I first completed it, but I wasn’t sure what was wrong. It featured two chickens attempting to vote at city hall. One was an ungainly brown rooster; the other, a charming, fluffy yellow hen.

knitted rooster in various brown yarns in sculpture about voting

My intention for the piece was to illustrate some of the myriad restrictions on voting being enacted across the U.S. By using chickens as the actors, I gave the voters a general appeal. After all, chickens live in the rural countryside, suburban backyards, and even cities. I thought cute chickens would give the work an innocent storybook quality as I broached a divisive topic.

I tried to cram as many ideas about voter suppression and the manipulation of election laws into the sculpture as I could. And that was the problem. The ideas were not clearly expressed and were piled on top of each other. So, I put the work aside for a time. When I returned to it two years later, I was ready to rip it apart.

Reusing elements of the original sculpture

I identified the components worth reusing: the yellow hen, the pencil barrier, the city hall edifice. I decided to separate the issues about elections into individual boxes – literally into boxes.

I started with the yellow hen. Her feathery body was a combination of loopy yellow mohair bouclé yarn and a smooth variegated gold and brown merino wool yarn. I used a stitch pattern called Loose Woven Cables from the Harmony Guide to 440 More Knitting Stitches. The pattern creates crisscrossing diagonal lines, mixing the colors and textures into a soft puffy cloud of feathers.

yellow knitted chicken against road map with pencil barrier and voting sign ©2021 Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

To convey the idea of barriers to voting, I used the pencil fence from the original work. Pencils suggest signature requirements, extra forms, and inflexible rules. They also evoke images of the literacy and civics tests given to Black voters in the South to disqualify them from voting. I added broken pottery, a hazard for chickens who can cut their feet on the sharp pieces. Beyond the fence is the promise of voting, just out of reach.

The next feature I reused was the city hall edifice. The most important part of this element is the clock, set at 10 minutes to four. Alongside the building is a sign that reads: POLLS closing 4 PM. That’s a very early hour to close. Shortening polling hours, relocating polling stations, and spreading misinformation about both have historically been used to confuse voters and suppress the vote in certain places. These tactics are back in vogue in places like Texas and elsewhere. The result is long lines of chickens waiting to vote.

Making the Voters Chicken_Line Time_ knitted hens on metal spiral against map with city hall clock 9 x 12 x 9 inches ©2021 Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

To pass under the portico into city hall, I needed some smaller chickens. I knit seven little birds and placed them in a spiraling line that winds around itself in circles, not going anywhere.

2 inch tall brown and white knitted hens with red thread and scissors in studio of Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

Making new elements to elaborate on the theme

Next, I considered reusing the brown rooster, but it was too tall for the boxes I had chosen. So, I salvaged an armature of another chicken that had not made its way into the original sculpture.

white canvas over foam armature of chicken and mock up for small wall sculpture by Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

Learning from the other pieces, I took some of the variegated brown yarn I had used in the rooster and knit a body using the Loose Woven Cables stitch again.

variegated brown wool and white boucle yarns knitted in loose woven cables for chicken feathers

I envisioned a chicken scratching in the dirt, kicking up straw and stones in the air behind her. But, instead of pebbles, the airborne objects are papers. Lots of papers: forms to register to vote, forms to request a mail-in ballot, forms for notarizing signatures, and instructions on returning the ballot. Texas and Florida are two states that added new requirements in 2021 to registering to vote and voting by mail.

So, you might ask, where is the ballot in all of this? That precious treasure that enables citizens to choose their representatives floats high above the bird, out of reach.

brown knitted chicken against backdrop of mail-in-voting instructions with papers flying in air 9 x 12 x 4 inches ©2022 Eve Jacobs-Carnahan

At the time of this writing, there is a fourth sculpture in this set in progress. It will house a fox, looking over the henhouse. You’ll see him in a future post.

See more of my bird sculptures here as well as my work about democracy and society.

14 Comments

Beth Liberman on February 12, 2022 at 4:29 pm

There is something so right about the process you’ve gone through: a first sculpture that ultimately “misrepresented” what you thought your message was, and a second sculpture that literally “boxes” the issues, representing the compartmentalization happening around voters’ rights. This was a delight to read and to see the steps along the way. Can’t wait to see this in an exhibition!
- admin on February 17, 2022 at 9:12 am
  
  What great observations, Beth! I hadn’t thought about the process of reworking the sculpture as ITSELF a metaphor for what the country is going through. Thank you!
Melinde H Kantor on February 10, 2022 at 2:00 pm

Amazing process such detail great effort very fun
How will she make the fox!!!
- admin on February 11, 2022 at 10:04 am
  
  Thanks, Melinde. You’ll see the fox soon!
Melinde H Kantor on February 10, 2022 at 1:58 pm

Your process makes me think of something I have come across in my collage work….a Kolaj fest event in 2019 in New Orleans which was titled “Cultural Deconstructions” in which the participants are actually doing their art by taking images apart and rejoining them, except in your case one of the things being taken apart is cultural norms, and abnorms! Fascinating I look forward to how you will make the fox………!! Amazing effort. truly.
Michele j Clark on February 9, 2022 at 6:48 am

I love these chickens!
Joyce Kahn on February 8, 2022 at 9:56 pm

What a fabulous series, Eve! Brava! I particularly love the solo hen or rooster with lowered head, who to me looks quite perplexed by the long list of requirements to vote.
- admin on February 9, 2022 at 8:39 am
  
  Yay, I’m so glad you thought the brown hen looks perplexed, Joyce! Thank you.
Jan Waterman on February 8, 2022 at 5:51 pm

Charming, funny, painful. I am eagerly and with some trepidation awaiting the arrival of the fox. Thank you, Eve. I hope that lots of people get to see this series.
- admin on February 9, 2022 at 8:38 am
  
  Jan, I’m so glad all those feelings came through. I’m working on the fox head now, hoping to make it slightly menacing.
Betsy on February 8, 2022 at 5:41 pm

Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet. Great job Eve, & the chickens look terrific! Congrats on being included in the upcoming book, too.
- admin on February 9, 2022 at 8:36 am
  
  Thanks, Betsy. I had to sit with the piece for awhile before I was ready to take it apart, but I’m glad I did.
nel emlen on February 8, 2022 at 4:33 pm

So enjoy seeing the evolution of this series, Eve. The topic is close to my heart, as, by the way, are chickens! Love seeing your process and hearing your thoughts.
- admin on February 9, 2022 at 8:34 am
  
  Thanks, Nel!

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