settle | 2000 |
Steensland Art Museum
Saint Olaf College, Northfield, MN
Views show 11 x 24 x 32 ft. gallery interior with artist. All furniture and objects fabricated from salvaged furniture parts and mixed grade woods, (poplar, oak, spruce, maple, etc.). Primary elements include: a 66 x 102 x 22 in. horse with viewable, underside storage compartment; nine variable dimension paddles; a 20 x 22 x 17 in. block/bed steps with storage compartment; a 32 x 44 x 32 in. box bench settle with feet and hand stocks in backrest, and storage compartment under seat; and a 64 x 46 x 18 in. board settle with lockable whipping pillory in backrest. Additional elements include: sixteen Stickley Brothers dining chairs, Shaker type storage rail, enhanced furniture fittings and hardware, leather stripping, nylon webbing, and sheet rubber.
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Display as corporal punishment / Extending control of the hand through craft into control of the hand through display
A mixture of 17th century country furniture, 17th century restraining engines, and a touch of the 60's
Paddles – tool and chair rails – horse – settles –kneeling block – arts and crafts chairs
Each corporal assembly is also a storage unit
All furniture and implements designed from images or autobiographical incidents of display, rather than use – I witnessed most of these paddles in display as a child
Pragmatism and pride meets humiliation
The first person set in the stocks was often the carpenter who made them
Some secret knowledge from this carpenter:
The devices were designed to self destruct…