Arden Carlson

I am a Kentucky-born artist who works primarily in wood and drawing. My work

explores placemaking, labor, and desire. At this residency in particular, I’ve pivoted

towards an embrace of the dreaming body and mysticism. This has resulted in a set

of sculptural works, one of which is a stick chair wherein a wishbone is the backrest.

The wishbone is carved from a tree fork found on the Delaware River during the residency.

I lean heavily on hand tools like draw knives and carving gouges. I find that the result of

slow and rigorous physical making produces a certain desirable texture and form. I am

not generally interested in presenting a perfect plane.

In my work at large, I’ve drawn on rural material culture (from the American South) and absurdity to explore poetics of longing and handwork. Both surrealism and abstraction have offered me a kind of logic between the worlds of imaginative practice and place of being.

Here are some recurring elements that have appeared in the work I’ve made at this

residency: platforms, ladders, rest, portals, taper candles, wishbones, mountains, arrivals,

exits, and spirals.