"Last summer, Sara Hess sent me a photo of the chicken wire fence that lines her garden in Athens, GA. She had woven wisteria in and out of the metal squares, twisting the vine to form a large, swooping capital “L” before curling the line skyward to create the next shape, an “O.” In Sara’s hands, the vine twisted into a meaningful shape. Hess mentioned in her note that she’d been thinking about Sara Malpass’s list when drawing the wisteria through the fence’s grid.
Throughout her nearly 30 years at NIAD Art Center in Richmond, CA, Sara Malpass spent entire days culling words from her current readings and interests. Lists spilled down her page, one word bridging to the next as Malpass took inventory of the letters, syllables, and shapes–piles of seemingly disparate ideas. In one list,
Walls
Wedge
Whose
When
emerge as an exercise in alliteration or, perhaps, an interest in the undulating curve of a “W.” Like Hess’s vine, Malpass’s distinctive script transcends its traditional utility. These are marks on a page: tools for both drawing and dictation." - from the curator, Phillip McClure of Blue Boy, a curatorial project in Savannah, GA.
