March 25, 2016 - September 17, 2017

Philadelphia area artist Alison Stigora creates sculptural forms made from salvaged and charred tree limbs. She is known for her use of burnt wood a process that she describes as laborious yet meditative. The deep black surface she says “is very soft and iridescent in places.” Stigora accentuates the natural iridescence by coating the burnt limbs with metallic powder to “create a tonal gradation from deep to lighter silver, pewter, and gold.”

The transformative process of altering the wood surface is a means to restore beauty and memorialize the once living species. Stigora notes that there is an “idealization and value associated with silver and gold” and the progression from dark silver to bright gold indicates re-birth. Like a burnt forest, at first extremely lifeless, overtime it regenerates and transforms itself into the forest of tomorrow.

Stigora’s large-scale sculpture Nocturne is an undulating flow of intertwined branches. Its overall structure emulates both air and water currents as if the form has been created by natural forces. Its wave-like movement and concept of regenerative growth have been preserved into a glistening tribute to nature’s resilience.

Visit alisonstigora.com