This summer, Professor of Art Susannah Biondo-Gemmell can be found in her McWethy Hall art studio, surrounded by children’s toys and clothing. It’s all part of her creative process as she puts the finishing touches on a new body of work, which will go on display starting Friday, Aug. 28.
This mother of four, who has taught at Cornell since 2010, was on sabbatical this past spring, during which she traveled to Europe to research and explore museums and art styles in Paris and London. After returning to Mount Vernon in January, she began creating the work for the exhibition.
“The title of my show is ‘Be still, life.’ The work nods to still life painting, especially a genre called vanitas, even though I don’t make paintings. These vanitas paintings are about the transient nature of life and the inability to take commodity objects with us. Often they had particular symbols or iconography that related to the fleeting nature of life, such as dying flowers or rotting fruit. As a viewer, we were to gain an awareness of these themes while looking at the paintings,” Biondo-Gemmell said.
The art professor will use mixed-media textile and ceramic pieces and tie in the theme of vanitas—Latin for “vanity”—and memento mori—Latin for “remember that you must die.” Both themes appear in still life paintings, especially those produced in 16th-and 17th-century Europe. She’s exploring the themes in relation to her own maternal experience.
“I want people who see my art to be reminded that life is fleeting,” Biondo-Gemmell said. “As a mother, this time in my life is passing so quickly. All parents can relate to this. The fleeting nature of life permeates all humans.”
The professor, known for her ceramic work, was inspired by large ceramic frames she saw at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. She is using that inspiration to create ceramic frames with her own twist.
“The frames are made of castings from my children’s toys. Certain ‘moralizing mottoes’ would drive these still life paintings, such as the theme of memento mori. I have created one frame with the theme of ‘Homo bulla’ or ‘Man is a bubble.’ The point is that we are very fragile in life…like a bubble. The objects in that frame are children’s toys related to fragility, such as Lego bricks—children build things that often fall apart—and bubble wands. In all of these frames, I combine the iconography seen in these historical still-life paintings together with a translation of those themes into children’s toys or early child-rearing objects.”
Alongside the ceramic pieces, Biondo-Gemmell’s exhibition will consist of several textile pieces. She says many of these are inspired by Miriam Schapiro, a feminist artist from the 1970s, who created “femmage,” or feminist collages.
“She had these rules for the production of the femmage work, one of which was that you would repurpose textiles or objects from your everyday life. So I’m using my own children’s clothing, blankets, and accessories from raising them to produce these textile pieces. My life permeates my art.”
The show will have about 10 large pieces and will run from Aug. 28 through Oct. 4 in the Peter Paul Luce Gallery. Biondo-Gemmell will give an artist talk on that opening Friday from 3:30 to 4 p.m. in McWethy Hall, Room 222. She will also be available to discuss her work during the Homecoming reception on Saturday, Oct. 3, from 3–5 p.m.