Smashmold sculptures are a collection of smashed jello molds and stray domestic metal objects.
The journey of exploring molds began with the destruction of family Jell-O molds. In the 1990s my folks moved to Florida, and I inherited all of the family jello molds. The molds were made from aluminum and copper, pressed into grape-bunch, fish, ring, and lobster designs. There were duplicates of hearts and cornucopias. The collection stayed in the garage for years until I rediscovered them, brought them to my studio, and began attaching domestic mixed-media items to them.
Without realizing (or recognizing) what this trove of family domestic molds actually meant to me, I became increasingly frustrated by their physical existence. Fall (2019) I brought the remainder of the molds to Industrial Flame Cutting Steel in Beacon Falls, CT, and smashed a batch of jello molds with a four-ton steel magnet. It felt really amazing smashing these molds. It was an emotional release: a “letting go” of loaded material objects from my past. These molds signified an “oppressive housewife” mold that I, and many other women, inhabit.