Integrating theories and methodologies of fine art and craft, I transform domestic cast-offs, such as old furniture, household goods, and textiles, into abstract sculptures. The armatures of found object assemblages are largely disguised with old bedsheets and clothing, like skin on a skeleton. Committed to environmentalism, I source rather than buy materials, saving everyday detritus from landfills and rehabilitating them into sculptural forms. Like a hunter-gatherer, I seek out materials and save whatever comes my way until I have a use for it. I choose textile as a surface material because of its malleability, tactility, and confrontation with art's dominant, patriarchal hierarchies throughout history.

In an ongoing series of large-scale sculptures, I invent human-sized characters or archetypes with surrogate bodies representing outwardly facing personas. Works in this series carry titles such as The Gardener, The Caretaker, and The Griever, suggesting occupational or social roles. Functioning as metaphors for engagement, they are homespun avatars for a hyper-mediated social world.

A new series of small-scale sculptures take inspiration from my investigation of divination tools and practices, such as the tarot, and the symbols that I record in my sketchbooks. Words generated from this practice play an integral role in the conception of each piece and the formal logistics of their form. Emerging from this same research is Rise, a series of wall-based installations composed of cardboard symbols and words laser cut from recycled shipping boxes. I hand-sew fabric sourced from thrift stores onto the cardboard shapes. Laser cutting technology allows for precision, repetition, and speed in contrast to the slow craft of hand sewing.

Drawing serves as two-dimensional visual maps for intuitive three-dimensional work, carrying the same humility as my sculpture in what can be made by hand and utilizing what is readily available. In contrast to the slow nature of my sculpture process, drawing is quick, often small-scale doodles with colored pencils and markers. New mixed media collages on paper combine symbolic imagery from my sketchbooks and found images of symbols and words collected over four years of researching divination tools like tarot. The four elements (fire, earth, water, air) and the four directional coordinates (south, north, west, east) provide a framework for exploring the inner self and guide aesthetic decisions for three-dimensional work.

-Courtney Puckett, 2025