21. Alison Stigora

The artist’s creation for Chaumont-sur-Loire

Burnt wood, 6 x 3 x 3 m, 2022

 

“Impending lyrical shadow: an invitation to dance beneath the trees. Roots downward and hand extended. The flow of water and time are constant. The rivers empty into the sea, void moments in history: each moment and each wave are overcome by the next ones. There is a continual passing from one place to another and from one state to another. Continuous movement brings growth and change. We all go from one place (physical, intellectual, spiritual) to another, all throughout our lives. In this location, people go from one place to another, physically moving from one prestigious building to another. It is a place in which the slow curve of history can be read on the walls as well as in history books. This passing is also present on the banks of the Loire, with all that the river must have seen. Throughout the rising and falling of powers, the underlying current of the water and the centuries continues. In this sculpture created for the Domain, many burnt branches come together in one, reaching simultaneously in two directions: the earth and the skies. In which state of change are we, looking both forward and back? What is waiting for us?” Alison Stigora

Alison STIGORA

 

 

Alison Stigora was born in Philadelphia (USA) in 1982, and earned her degree from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2007. She enjoys the process of confronting the land with the creation of in situ works and large-scale installations, especially in public areas.

She has carried out many projects in the United States, such as in California’s Mojave Desert in 2015 and in the transit areas of Philadelphia International Airport’s west terminal in 2016. She has also travelled abroad to create renowned works in Germany starting in 2009, in the Arte Sella sculpture park in 2016 in Italy, and during her 2017 residency in Iceland.

Although she has held frequent solo exhibitions since 2004, she also particularly enjoys collaborating in group projects with professionals from other fields, such as engineers, architects, dancers, and light designers, in order to offer multi-sensory experiences to the largest possible audience, each specially designed for the location and its context.

In 2012, her work was integrated into the captivating dance show “Beyond the Bones” by the Kun-Yang Lin/Dancers at Philidelphia’s Painted Bride Art Center. The choreography, which has since been revised following its creation in 2002, found a new poetry in its dialogue with Stigora’s delicately arranged wood and branch structures.

Alongside her artistic work, since 2017 Stigora has also taught sculpture, drawing, and 3D animation at Seattle Pacific University.