Early Works
Performance Sculpture 1982-1985
Beginning in early 1980’s Jo Wood-Brown uses building materials like plaster for its time-based properties. Walking Spiral #1 (1982), Making Line (1983) and Epiphany (1984) are performances that take place in wet plaster as the material changes state from a liquid to a solid. Using fundamental tools and materials, she binds together physical activity, image and time. After the performance, Wood-Brown breaks apart the ‘sculpture’ into fragments as a record of the event.
The work is inspired by archeology and urban architecture. Impressions at various stages mark the physicality of plaster, gravel, sand, dirt, straw/hay, pipes and tools. Through the alteration of gesture and material within the performance, Wood-Brown evokes tilling, planting and irrigating as it relates to a unilateral pre-history. She uses these elements in response to the surrounding environment and alludes to a fundamental creativity that is distinctly feminine.