Jo-Ann Brody and Christine Federighi

Jo-Ann Brody and Christine Federighi

Compare and contrast the work of Jo-Ann Brody ("Woman Forest") to Christine Federighi ("Blue House Below")

When describing her own artwork, the artist Jo-Ann Brody draws attention to its sense of line, such as the linear stance and gesture of the female form in her work "Woman Forest." She used a process of building up a cement figure to create the texture, varied color, so she can find what she calls the rhythm of the piece. "The surface [of "Woman Forest"] remains rough and variegated reflecting my process. Working directly in cement allows the work to be monumental in size not just stance. Adding stones play with image, scale, and texture." (Brody, 2006) She meant to show a forest of women who "talk, dance" and above all relate to one to another. (Brody, 2006) "Though created individually in series, together they speak of relationships. One figure's gesture reinforces the next; negative space and rhythmic line imply dance and dialog. Life goes on. The dialog suggests a women forest with branches/arms gesturing and waving in ordinary conversation. Stones of clay and of stone enhance the imagery -- river's edge, trees, bare branches, earth-tones, stones." (Brody, 2006)

Christine Federighi likewise deploys linear female forms in her sculpted works. From coil and kiln-baked ceramics, she created figures for her work "Blue House Below" to create a work of symbolic importance to herself. Unlike Brody, however, she does not define her work as organically evolving from the materials of construction, and creating persons in relationships within the format of the piece, rather Federighi attempts more control over the evolution of the materials to express her inner state: "This body of work deals with the house-figure relationship as is always a changing metaphor for personal events. At present my relationship is building a house. Sometimes I think that I live in three houses or homes - my birth home, my spiritual home, and the home that is my dwelling. This idea seems to be expressed by the 'stacked' quality of some of the pieces. Building a house is a growth process and involves different areas of learning. Aspects of the planning and physical building, such as locating a site, drilling a well, digging the foundation and constructing the framework, have become poetic metaphors for the visual form of the pieces." (Federighi, 2006)