Sophie Hood

You Never Know

You Never Know, featuring The Bag Creatures; wearable sculputre; re-purposed plastic bags, 5'-7' tall, 2010

You Never Know, an exhibition of Bag Creatures by Sophie Hood, will be on view in AVA Gallery and Art Center's Gallery 3 from June 18 - July 14, 2010. A reception, free and open to the public, will take place on Friday, June 18, from 5 to 7pm.

Sophie Hood, of Lyndonville, VT, received her BA in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, with a minor in Studio Art, from Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Hood has exhibited her work at Dartmouth College and, in 2009, was part of "On the Planet," an exhibition of work by four Vermont artists in Nagoya, Japan. Hood - also a musician, metalworker and costume designer - currently works as a Special Instructor in the Studio Art Department at Dartmouth College and as a Visiting Artist in Dartmouth's Claflin Jewelry Workshop. As a musician, she plays electric violin and sings in the rock band Occam's Razor.

Grappling with the realities of overflowing landfills and humanity's impact on other life forms, Hood's Bag Creatures raise questions about what would happen if everything we created (including waste, such as plastic bags) were living creatures that needed a home: "What if there was a race of plastic bag creatures? What would they do and what would we do in turn? How would it change our environment and our perception of it? Would we think more carefully about what we bring into this world?" In an attempt to answer these questions, Hood has created several life-sized creatures from repurposed plastic bags. As wearable sculptures, Hood's creatures alter the reality of both the viewer and the person inside the costume. Hood observes: "I become the garbage creature and I can feel what it might feel... I want to find where I belong."

A performance of the Bag Creatures and an Artist's Talk by Sophie Hood will take place on Wednesday, July 7, at 4pm. Dancers from Dartmouth College will bring the Bag Creatures to life in an event not to be missed! After the performance, there will also be an opportunity for visitors to try on the costumes to experience life as a Bag Creature. The performance and talk will take place in Gallery 3 at AVA Gallery and Art Center and are free and open to the public.

You can Download a PDF of this press release here.