please visit this blog for earlier works from 2009-2019, but go to sharonhavelka.com for present art.

I Dream of Sleep; Feb 2019. 61 x 61 cm. recycled fabric and clothes.

Sanguine; 2018. 79 x 94 x 33 cm; recycled clothes quilted together and bled out with oil.

to be optimistic or hopeful, especially in a difficult or gloomy situation.

Petrified; 2018. 77 x 71 cm at 30 degree lean. quilted recycled clothes and remnants, varnished and oiled

If a quilt were Petrified;

to have all organic material be replaced while retaining its original stem tissue structure;

ossified;

to be a three dimensional representation of the original organic material;

preserved, incapable of change; unable to move; 

at the edge of a precipice frightened, terrified.

She'll; 2018. 55 x 50 x 10 cm. quilted recycled clothes and remnants; shaped, spray glossed, and oiled.

as a noun, the shell is a protective outer covering.

as a verb, to shell is the removal of that protective outer covering.

She will.

She will is her desire or determination to do something.

She'll

Displacement; 2018. 41 x 23 cm. 5 year old eroded quilt parts, red velvet scrap, cardboard.

parts from a found old quilt of mine that was apparently left half buried outside our binghamton home for the 5 years we had moved away

Displacement - the amount by which a thing is moved from its normal position;

the occupation by a submerged body that would otherwise be occupied by a liquid;

the unconscious transfer of an intense emotion from its original object to another one;

the removal of someone by someone else who takes their place.

Chapter One: To Ferment; 2017. 29 to 117 x 18 x 5 cm. cigar box and cedar sheets, recycled fabric, onion skin paper, matcha tea, thread.

To Ferment - to undergo the chemical breakdown of substance by bacteria, yeast, or other microorganisms;

typically involving effervescence and the giving off of heat.

To incite or stir up agitation or excitement among a group of people,

usually concerning major change and leading to trouble or violence.

Cause, generate, instigate, provoke... brew.

Shutter (Shudder); 2017. 29 x 11 cm. scotch whiskey cardboard container, cigar box cedar sheets, old clothes, watch face, sugar.

window shutters keep light out

camera shutters let light in

shudders - tremble compulsively, as a result of fear or revulsion

i shudder at the thought of...

...to be held.

Presence/Presents, or Lack of; 2017. 29 x 11 cm. scotch whiskey container, cigar box cedar sheets, plastic packaging from box of handkerchiefs, old clothes.

It's about people, stuff, or time, and calculating actual value by subtraction...what was once there, giving or not being given, missing or not missing you...

the negative space.

gifts from Charles - the cardboard container from a bottle of Aberlour scotch whiskey and cedar sheets from cigar boxes

It's also about the container - that which holds it all together, to be held.

Distalation; 2017. 30 x 34 x 7. single malt scotch whiskey box, recycled fabric and thread and last of the red velvet pants, coffee stain, museum board, onion skin paper, watch face, Amsterdam cabbie card, marble, sugar.

Distalation - the extraction of the essential meaning or most important aspects of something...from afar.

being driven through the dark streets of Amsterdam...looking for it.

always looking up

always looking down

Salt Yolk; 2017. 20 x 20 x 10 cm. coffee stained recycled canvas printed with crocheted doily, thread, stuffed into a mooncake tin box.

Salt Yolk is a homonym of sorts, same sculpture with 2 different meanings.

preserved salted duck yolk is prized and is used in Chinese mooncakes to symbolize the moon...if you are lucky there will be 2 in your mooncake

salt yolk agar is used as a growth medium for Petri dish of presumptive bacteria