FLOATING HOUSE
by ANN MARIE KENNEDY

Ann Marie Kennedy has an ongoing interest in how memory resides in spaces, in both domestic spaces and within the landscape. Her installations and works on paper make use of natural materials and fibers to create narratives about place. Using landscape as both a metaphorical and literal source of inspiration. The exhibition, Floating House, explores a fragile balance between landscape and human-formed structures.

The installation in the center of the gallery, Shed, is a lean-to structure, built to house a collection from the natural world. The structure itself is stable and iconic, while the translucent walls reveal a sense of the contents inside. The plants were gathered locally and represent an exploration of and engagement with place. The plant materials cast their shadows upon the silk walls, and as one walks around the structure, the contents shift, and new shadows are noticed. The juxtaposition of these elements explores the tensions and poetry between opposing states of preservation and passing. Combining both metaphysical and material form, the plants themselves are a metaphor for memory, a reminder of how landscapes are both dynamic and resilient.

The monoprints that line the walls were made at Penland School of Crafts during a week long residency in January 2018. The process of printmaking allows an imprint of a moment in time.  Plants are collected from the natural world and are brayered and offset onto paper. The house framework both contains these elements and is supported by them.

Ann Marie Kennedy lives and works in Raleigh, N.C. where she has a studio at Anchorlight. She is an Associate Professor at Wake Tech Community College and a former resident artist at Penland School of Crafts (2001-4). She teaches workshops in hand papermaking and participates in exhibits both locally and nationally.