By
Kate VonderPorten
Arizona Daily Wildcat
UA student explores health issues in gallery exhibit
For UA fine arts graduate student Kira Fournier, the old adage "there is an exception to every rule" does not apply.
That's because the artist striving to obtain her master's degree has not let her battle with ovarian cancer stop her from doing what she loves - making art.
Creating art since she was a child, Fournier's glass and mixed media sculpture exhibit is currently on display at the Joseph Gross Gallery in her master's thesis show "Getting Out Alive."
"I always liked to make things when I was a kid and when I went to college, I learned about pottery," she said.
What makes her exhibit stand out is the primary inspiration behind the work - Fournier is battling ovarian cancer.
"The work that I am showing now is really a series, kind of a - no pun intended -- 'body' of work," she said.
Fournier chose to center her work around issues involving her experience with cancer. She said she was shocked to find out she had the disease because she had previously led such a healthy life.
"I had never been sick in my life. I am usually the healthiest person, so having cancer has been really shocking -- kind of devastating," she said.
Fournier also said that she uses imagery in her show that deals with the experiences she has had in the hospital.
"Especially the horizontal pieces, (they) show some of the devastation. I hope I won't have to show that level of devastation in the future," she said. "When I came to the UA, I kind of wanted to move away from pottery. My work became really personal - I felt in order to kind of say what I wanted to say, I had to use the figure and in fact my own."
Fournier specifically wanted to reference her own body for the work on display.
"The forms in the show originated with me taking a slab of clay and draping it over my own body," she said. "I came face to face with myself and realized that the work was about me -- why should I hedge and make it more abstract?"
Specifically, Fournier chose to focus on her torso to explore what was being done to her through the treatment of the illness
"The torso has been of interest to me because that is where I have been focusing a lot of attention on myself and it is where the disease was -- where things were done to me -- surgery and all of that," Fournier said.
"When I started to do sculpture I really wanted a material that was more than just surface - and glass gives you the whole interior to work with," she added. "You get a mixture of translucence and transparency and you can put things inside. It kind of adds a mystery to the object."
Moira Geoffrion, Fournier's master's adviser, has seen her work progress over the past two years. She said she feels the choice of the glass medium best suits the intent of the work.
"I think the glass and the transparency of it and the kind of feeling of spiritualism and the ephemeral and luminous quality of the glass really enabled her to make the kind of visual statement that you see in the show," she said.
Fournier also said she mixed her personal experiences with craftsmanship in her work.
"The work really becomes much more personal and about her and what she was going through. The making-process and the life-process started fusing in her work," Geoffrion said.
"I want to continue to make work and will continue to work in glass and combine it with other media like metal and wood," Fournier added.
Kira Fournier's "Getting Out Alive" is on display at the Joseph Gross Gallery through May 4.
