Mid- Term Statement: Petah Coyne

Petah Coyne is an experienced sculptor. Her sculptures are known for being large and fantastic, they may sit on the floor and many hang like chandeliers from the ceiling. She uses many different mediums to create her larger-than-life sculptures, but is always consistent. Wax, silk flowers, taxidermy birds and other animals, wood, hay, soil, tar, chicken wire, black sand, white powder, ribbons, bird cages, and even hair, amongst other materials, are used to create the sculptures she refers to as her “girls”.

The lines her sculptures create are unique and dynamic, they have a sort of chaotic quality to them, the edges can be jagged or soft curves, in silhouette. Part of the charm of her sculptures is the heaviness she gives them by using wax; the chandelier sculptures look as though they cannot be suspended from the ceiling because they can weigh hundreds of pounds, this however, is part of the magic surrounding Coyne’s sculptures. All her pieces have very defined character; they seem intimidating yet graceful and have a gothic quality, but are Victorian and luxurious in nature.

Shape is an important part of Coyne’s works in addition to line. Because her pieces are sculptures, they are all 3D, but none of her pieces have specific, geometric shapes, and some fade into the floor or melt into the wall by sprinkled flowers.

The form of her works are varied; some could argue that man-made materials are used because of the processed wax, stuffed birds, and artificial flowers, but though her materials may be enhanced by man, they always reflect, or lead back to, nature. Wax can be made naturally by bees, but then processed so it is more practical; the taxidermy pieces are stuffed and frozen in time by man, but the animal itself came from nature and reflects it; and the silk flowers may be fake, but they represent plant life in nature.

Textures of Coyne’s works always appear to be smooth, simply because of the materials used. Her pieces almost always include wax so they are very opaque and have a smooth, dull surface. That is not to say, however, that the sculptures themselves are dull.

Coyne’s use of space is always different. Some pieces may sit on the floor and are very horizontal or can shoot up into the air and be vertical, others, hang from the ceiling giving them a defined vertical appearance. Either way, the audience will always be very aware of her works in space.

            Petah Coyne uses a large variety of colors. They can vary piece to piece and also throughout a single piece. Usually, she sticks to one shade and color of wax in a single piece, but uses different colored waxes in different pieces. The flowers she uses are usually consistent throughout the piece, but, like the flowers, vary piece to piece. The one element that is varied in color in each individual piece, are the birds. The birds give off these big, beautiful flashes of colors and are a point of emphasis in the piece.

            Though Coyne’s process is very mysterious, even to herself, she told an interviewer once that she just focuses and isn’t even sure what happens afterward, you can tell by the end result that it must be painstaking. Each part of her sculptures are so defined ad detailed and made of such a delicate material, that the process must be long, hard, and mistake-prone; but the end result is worth every frustration.