Untitled #751 (Craig's Piece), Petah Coyne

I'm David Cateforis with another Art Minute from the Spencer Museum of Art. Looming in the corner of the Spencer's contemporary gallery is a curious untitled sculpture by the American artist, Petah Coyne. Suspended from the ceiling, it resembles a melting white chandelier, a spiky wedding dress, or a snow-laden evergreen tree. The unusual format and sheer size of Coyne's work draw you closer and its intricate character invites careful examination. But you don't want to get too close, because the sculpture seems very delicate. Spindly points reach out from the central mass, like lacy white fingers that might break off. The artist has dripped white wax over a chicken-wire armature to achieve the appearance of a frosted pretzel. From up close you can even see dozens of candle stumps and imagine how the artist created the sugar coated effect. You might also notice the layers of cable coiled around the central core of the sculpture which serve as a sort of waistline for this alien figure. Perhaps the sculpture is not as delicate as it first appeared to be. Underneath the elegant white satin sleeve that covers its dangling support must be a fairly hefty chain. With thanks to Karen Gerety Folk for her text, from the Spencer Museum of Art, I’m David Cateforis.

Were the candles on the sculpture ever lit? Although the candles on this chandelier-like sculpture may have been lit, they were not the main source of wax in this sculpture. The artist Petah Coyne used specially formulated wax to make her sculptures so they would be strong and durable.

This piece is called Untitled #751 and is made by Petah Coyne. 751 is a sculpture made out of wax and steel. It was made by making a steel frame of the original design, then they layered wax over it, hardened the wax, then layered more over until it was enough wax to give it its look. Once they did that, they had hung it from a metal chain from the ceiling. The artist, Petah Coyne, has experimented with many different materials to sculpt with, including chicken wire, hay, wood, wax, religious symbols, sand, dry wall, and taxidermy animals just to name a few. The sculptures that she makes are often very fragile and hard to move, so they are made where they were being kept at. I find that this sculpture makes me think of winter and snow. It probably causes that because the sculpture is all white and it tries to look like a snowflake by being mostly air and trying to look like it could float. Another thing that may come to your mind is glazed pretzels, as much as you may want to eat it though it is not edible. This sculpture was made to represent an emotion, so try to see what emotion you think it is. Petah Coyne is known for making sculptures to represent some type of emotion and making it out of almost anything covered in wax. These statues that she makes are made to be some sort of emotion and are always out of the ordinary. She became an artist in the late 1980s and since then she has been making pieces of art that are always abnormal. She is not yet a very well known artist, yet her idea is very original and is able to make lots of individual sculptures, so she will be making them for a good while into the foreseeable future.