Chela Fielding

Artist Statement:

I am fascinated by the forgotten or ignored details of peoples’ lives. My passion has been to transform discarded items into something beyond their ordinary existence. Through my art, I conjure up stories by giving these castoffs new identities, inspirations, and lives.

My work reveals the process of exploring the connections between completely unrelated objects. I spend a long time imagining ways in which the objects might co-exist in a thought provoking manner-- old chairs, shoes, fabrics, pieces of wood, discarded appliances, and the like. What do these and similar discarded items have in common, either inherently or artistically? What is its history? What may be hidden inside. What is their uniqueness. This process inspires me to create sculptures that speak to every person’s own experience be the experience of perhaps being unnoticed or unappreciated. I want my sculptures to give a voice to a lost person in all of us and I want it to do so with style, ingenuity and humor.

My artwork is about communication and transformation. I embrace the whimsical and quirky by combining disparate elements to discover how they unite, collide and diverge. When I’m working with found materials many of the materials fail. They come apart or break or perhaps simply lose their original allure. Yet, often the elements come together to form satisfying sculptures that provoke unexpected feelings and responses in both the artist and viewer.