Photo courtesy of Moira Geoffrion Moira Geoffrion stands before her nest-like creation, which is currently on display at GOCAIA gallery, 306 E. Congress St. The sculpture was partially inspired by genetics and partially by the events of Sept. 11.

One almost expects a large bird to swoop down into the larger-than-life nest of tree roots and human hair that is located in the center of GOCAIA gallery.

The nest's formation has much in common with the gathering technique that birds and other creatures employ to create their nests.

Moira Geoffrion, University of Arizona professor of sculpture and combined media, used leftover material from her studio in addition to rusted metal objects to evoke a primitive return to an underground Eden - depicting human figures hidden among natural and metallic forms.

"This was the only thing I could do," Geoffrion said. "I built sculptures out of fragments and realized that the whole series was about fragmentation and a sense of parts and pieces of the past becoming a new thing."

Geoffrion incorporates curled strands of her own hair and strands from other women in her family into many of her wooden "nests" and the wax and metal ledge pieces in what she calls her "DNA" series.

Like many other artists, Geoffrion said her work was influenced by the tragic events of Sept. 11.

"There is one little painting called 'Day Twelve.' After seeing those first events, I was brushing my hair on the way to school, taking the hair off the brush and curling it around my finger," she said. "I did that every day and collected those curls, and it became my safe place that reminded me of when my mother used to brush my hair. It also represented DNA, which was the only way that people were identified after the event. The hair represented that whole process of searching."

Geoffrion said there was also hair from her niece in her brush.

"It connected our family. My mother had red hair, and I did as well - and so it connects the generations of women."

Nicci Smidt, a speech and hearing sciences senior, is also a student intern at GOCAIA. She said she appreciates Geoffrion's mix of manipulated industrial materials, such as metal added to natural forms like tree roots and hair.

"I like the way she adds human elements to nature, like the copper fused to wood and hair mixed with wax," Smidt said. "Moira combines elements I have never seen paired together before."

In addition to dealing with September's events, Geoffrion also created standing screen-like images out of clay, metal, tree branches and roots.

"My work has always been influenced by some event, and while most of the events are events in my family, there has always been a broader influence," Geoffrion said. "Another came when I had a Fulbright (fellowship) to India and the new smells and culture created layers of a new existence."

Geoffrion also casts various body parts in metal and layers them with earthen forms to create a tangible sense of human connection to the earth and the cycle of death and birth that is inherent in existence.

"Archaeological layering influences my work, such as the bronze cast aluminum pieces with bodies cast into organic earthen form expressing the fact that we come from the Earth and we go back to the Earth," Geoffrion said. "Her works layer, fragment and juxtapose signifiers of ephemeral nature with bodily fragments that imply that we are symbiotically connected to nature even though we often think of ourselves as 'other to nature.'"

In addition to drawing inspiration from her family and travels, teaching sculpture gives Geoffrian creative stamina.

"I feel that teaching students gives me a kind of energy and a contact with the now and what is really current," she said. "Teaching keeps my ideas really vital and energized."

GOCAIA is located at 306 E. Congress St.