Amy Hauft is the chair of the Sculpture + Extended Media Department here at Virginia Commonwealth University. She has been here for six years, and has exhibited her work internationally. She described herself as "an eccentric magnet," saying that "some things stick, and some things don't." She said that her art comes as a result of what she absorbs or discards throughout life.
Hauft works primarily in large-scale architectural installations. At her lecture tonight, she said that she is always seeking to reference a landscape, creating one indoors. Her installation, Counter Re-formation, was inspired by personal experience and an engraving of a dessert table from the Louis XV period. The sculpture is a somewhat serpentine table, and it is interesting to walk around and through. Hauft said that she was very interested by the fact that viewers could walk to the center and "wear" the piece. The very center is somewhat of a vortex, and it is topped by a spiral staircase made of sugar. Hauft said that the vortex is pulling down, while the staircase lifts up, creating an equal pull and balance at the center of the sculpture. In brief, the installation not only stems from some personal thoughts and desires that Hauft had, but it is supposed to be a metaphor for decadence and reform.
Hauft finished her lecture by stating once again that she always attempts to reference a personal physical experience that she had outdoors, by bringing a landscape inside. She said "My work is really futile, because of course you can't really create a landscape indoors. But it's kind of sweet to try."
See an image of Counter Re-formation below. If you want to see it in person, you can find it upstairs in the Anderson Gallery until February 21.
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