Miriam Carpenter is a contemporary artist based in Bucks County, Pennsylvania whose work includes wood sculpture, furniture, ceramics and works on paper. As a Rhode Island School of Design alumna, she began her career as a furniture designer at George Nakashima’s studio.

• Hometown: Pipersville, PA
• Education: Rhode Island School of Design

Through new processes, her work explores things often overlooked – unveiling the hidden complexities around us – whether based in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics or in the human condition. Carpenter’s work can be found internationally in both private and public collections and has been exhibited most notably at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Michener Art Museum, Wharton Esherick Museum, Fuller Craft Museum, Marshall M. Fredericks Sculpture Museum, Museum for Art in Wood, Philadelphia International Airport, SOFA Chicago, Design Miami/Paris and Moderne Gallery where she is currently represented. She has been awarded six international residencies in the arts and is an active participant in artist collaborations around the globe.

Artist Statement

Art shifts the way we move through the world and expands the way we perceive. It can be a powerful means of communication, and with the support of one another, we can move forward with integrity and relevance. The inclination to create artwork sets us apart from other living things on this earth. It is an active universal language that creates ties, discovers compatibility and allows us to realize connections. It is a way of actualizing our intentions and deepens our capacity to love. Art is the way – not simply a means to understanding.

My work values and explores things often overlooked – unveiling the hidden complexities around us – whether based in biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics or in the human condition. Through new processes in multiple mediums, these ideas and experiences are translated into pattern, form and objects that are constructed to last lifetimes beyond our own.

My love for wood is unparalleled – yet my zeal for exploration and practicing in other mediums enables my work to take a wide range of forms. Allowing my work to be fluid helps to shift my perspective – it creates detachment from patterns of “knowing” and creates an opening for learning. To be truly creative, I must be open and trusting – actively engaging with the unknown. I have to believe wholeheartedly in potential – to be okay with impermanence and uncertainty – and to know that courage does not lead to action; action leads to courage. With this perspective, there is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

I am devoted to this path, to learning as much as I can and to sharing what I have discovered. My practice is one of outreach and of introspection. It is about opening to new perspectives, creating opportunities, and is the clearest way I can share the best parts of myself with the world, in the most responsible and impactful way I know how.

Feather Statement

Throughout my life I have sought the companionship of trees and have an ever deepening reverence for them. Trees are intelligent, resilient, majestic and adaptable. They clean the air we breathe, provide us with shelter, food and fuel. When a tree has reached the end of its life, the shadow of what once was
presents another gift in the form of a satiny, warm, sensual material. Each piece of wood has its own story – reflections of moments specific to place and time within the inherent architecture of a species.  No matter how long one has worked with wood or how intimately one knows the material, each piece from each tree has its own experience and characteristics uniquely formed by its geographical location, the effects of the seasons, wind, rain, what grew beside it, what pathogens were present, and how it was cut and dried. This history remains in the wood. Understanding how to read the story gives one an opportunity to decide whether or not to pursue further exploration. With respect for its capacity and an understanding of its history, one can be thoughtful, care for it and coax its potential.

My process is of making – of staying present in the moment, of focus and flexibility – and is an ongoing lesson in non-attachment. Although most of my work is “one-off,” for over ten years I have developed an evolving series of delicately carved wooden feathers. The process I created for making these feathers has become my tool for centering through hyper-focused carving as an active meditation. Species with porous early wood, tight growth rings, and medullary rays that are slightly denser than that of the late wood, provide the type of structure I have found to be most resilient. The dense medullary rays project radially from the pith center to the outer bark through the vertical rings, offering an ability to shape incredibly thin undulating forms that expose the delicate pores. This complex structure presents a dramatic visual texture and a challenge to create sweeping lines through varying densities. Shaping the form defines the tools I can use and an order to the process. This order is as flexible and idiosyncratic as the character of the wood in hand. Through this study, I allow myself to pour out love with such intensity that what I create becomes embodied with a life that is viscerally connected to me. I must work diligently with assiduous attention, holding the piece in the palm of my hand so that I can feel the wood move, bend, stretch, release and expand. The feather’s symbolism is deeply complex within the framework of a simple form. It represents wisdom, freedom, that which is ethereal – the soul, contemplation – that which is spiritual, the transitory nature of life and the evolution of our planet.