Borderline

Borderline installation at Louisiana College. 2014

Borderline installation as part of exhibition Oversight with Kenneth Steinbach. CIVA Gallery 212. Madison, WI. 2016

Borderline is a project about bee populations. Each bee in the project comes from a single mold taken from a dead bee. Each terra cotta bee is then stamped with a number in sequence. My goal is to make approximately one hive's worth of bees–somewhere between 8000-10,000–to complete the series. As the mold is used it slowly erodes, subtly changing the shape of the bee as the series progresses. 
This project asks many questions about our relationship to the environment; our fears,  and our collective "blind spots."  


As I have made several molds of bees I have used other molds for smaller projects. Some of those can be found in my store. 

Gold-Leaf Bee wall sculptures
ceramic, gold-leaf, cedar

A blog post about the making of the molds can be found here.

About David  

David J. P. Hooker lives and works in the greater Chicago area, where he is an artist and Chair of the Art Department at Wheaton College. He received an M.F.A. in Ceramics from Kent State University and a B.A. in English from Furman University. 
 
His artistic practice explores the inherent value of materials, objects, and places, hoping to find ways to better connect and understand the world we live in. Recently he was awarded the Dunhuang Ceramic Residency and spent two months as artist in residence in Lanzhou, China. 
 
When David is not freaking out over deadlines, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Elaine, his children Abbey and Samuel, and his dog, Mac. He also enjoys baseball, BBQ, and tennis—not necessarily in that order.
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Contact David

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