The Language of Hands 2016: Artist Statement: Kim Bellavia

This project became an amazing experience for me as a sculptor the rendering hands took on a life as I was sanding them and finishing each one I felt a connection to each person and not even knowing them. Creating objects for each hand helped me to see the tiniest things in nature that are overlooked every day yet are so beautiful.

The project itself was extremely challenging. I enjoyed being out my comfort zone and creating a large body of work my first group of casts was a youth group from Little Lakes Church in Honeoye, NY .This was a group of 22 students, each student had the freedom to choose the gesture of their hand.

I also advertised open studio visits for participants to come to my studio to cast their hands. I stopped casting at 33 hands. The next step was sanding and sealing each hands then finding something collected from nature or made from natural material that would uniquely fit in the hands.

The hands were displayed in an installation at a Cafe, Cafe Sol in Canandaigua, NY. My original intention was to display the hands in a local library. The more the project progressed I wanted to place the hands in a place where people go socially. I displayed the hands on all the tables in the cafe creating separate intimate conversations among the hands.

As an artist I create sculptures and paintings that give form and contrast to the notions of being and the natural world, rooted in the concept that the natural environment in which we live is a reflection of who we are as beings. My work is a process of making a dialogue with the natural world in relation to the human experience, depicting how nature and human nature weave themselves into the intrigue of life and the entropy of existence.

The inspiration for this installation came from numerous commissions of casting hands, thoughts of a sense of community and acceptance that is so needed in our world today, an overwhelming love for the natural environment and an excerpt Titled, “Human Hands” From the Cherokee Feast of Days by Spotted tail. I am extremely grateful for this grant and the opportunity create meaningful work. All of this assists me in my career as a visual artist.