From time to time we keep adding to the growing body of work the artist profiles and studio visit series we’ve been making. Here’s a peek at our latest artist profile on the mixed media artist Camille Whiteman.
Read Camille’s Print Profile -written by Tracy Ecclesine Ivie
Imagination runs wild in the world of mixed media sculptor Camille Whiteman, whose work includes a small, patchwork dog with a tree on its head and a wheel for a foot; a human-sized wooden abacus, anchored by a pair of men’s black shoes, and a mosaic woman’s bust, made of tiles and shells, whose head is crowned by barbed wire and whose backbone is made from a deer skeleton.
Her sculptures, which include many found objects, may appear whimsical, but often reflect more serious themes, she says, including incest, “broken children” and animal cruelty. “Some of my work is pretty intense,” she says. “It lies at the junction of beauty and sadness, the disturbing relationship between humans and the worlds they inhabit and create—the terrors and joys we all share. “I feel like my art is kind of a not-so-gentle nudge. People can get the message, or they cannot get the message,” she adds.
Behind the mystery are untold stories waiting to be revealed, such as the evolution of “Bee House,” a four-foot glass tower with more than 300 bees in tiny bottles. No, she didn’t kill them (as some people ask). They were ordered online by a friend and when their incessant buzzing alarmed postal workers, they wrapped the shipment in plastic, which led to the insects’ early demise.
“I felt bad for the bees,” Camille says. “So I went to a science surplus store and got all these little tiny bottles and built them all a home.” And as she pivots from one imaginative idea to another after more than 40 years as an artist, Camille hopes at least one of her messages will get through: that the world needs to be a better place and people need to start being brave enough to look at things that are wrong and do something about them.