We search for echoes of ourselves, see our likenesses everywhere, especially in nature; we have a profound psychological need to make that direct connection to the earth. Perhaps it is a condition of being human, intensified in an age defined by the virtual and inorganic.
 
Over the last dozen years, I have found most of my materials in nature. Mushrooms, fish and stones – some of my favorite elements – have both magic temperaments and rich metaphoric lives. Two years ago, I began making portraits.
 
My sculpture is usually accumulative in nature; I love the “building” aspect. Expanding and shaping elements is an act of ritual, transformation and faith.
 
Bronze mesmerizes me, both the metal itself and the process of achieving it. The way one liquid pour gives many parts a unity, the way the process demands that I take chances, that I break through the limits imposed by my experience.
 
Most of my recent work has been on the walls; there is an intimacy in considering an object on a wall, a clarity and directness that I appreciate. And much of it has been based on the tondo form, a venerable symbol that suggests, among many other ideas, connection and completion.
 
My work is often about water, in which I am at home; mountainous, liquid and ephemeral, it embodies the idea of continuous change. And about islands and clouds and the moment they rhyme, about an object’s refusal to be still. 

Tracy Heneberger
October 2012