Lily Cox-Richard

Appointment: 2010 to 2013
Art

My sculpture often takes the form of vernacular icons such as frontier fences, lightning rods, stone tree stumps and obelisks. Although these forms are familiar, without historical context their cultural significance seems vague. I’m trying to understand how these symbols and systems can still be potent, and where this power is located, even as their original meanings and functions are obscured. I’m interested in ways that sculpture has historically served commemorative purposes, from public monument to personal grave marker. The departure point for much of my work has been the moment at which this commemoration begins to dwarf the original experience or event.

My research projects have focused on the relationship of World’s Fairs to American national identity, 19th century spiritualism, lightning, and early innovations in wireless communication and electricity. I received a BFA from California College of the Arts and an MFA in Sculpture from Virginia Commonwealth University. I moved to Ann Arbor from Houston, Texas where I was an artist-in-residence in the Core Program at the Museum of Fine Arts.