Sally Willowbee

Here's the Found Artist exhibit text that was developed for Sally Willowbee, along with some photographs that were provided by Sally.

Woman Lamp

Born in Iowa farm country and later moving to South Jersey as a child, Sally Willowbee participated in household chores from an early age, leading to a lifelong process of making and fixing things, given a boost when she attended Quaker boarding school as a teenager.  Art was daily fare at that school, feeding Sally’s burgeoning imagination.  She soon began making things and giving them away, but true awakening began to dawn only after she moved to California and participated in the Women’s Building -- a project of Judy Chicago and other feminist artists -- which broadened her concept of art-making, and kindled sparks of self-identification as an artist.  Along the way, Sally undertook a series of journeys – to California, to New Zealand, to the Florida Keys – which became journeys of renewal and reorientation, and strengthened her commitment to travel as an integral part of the life process.  Transforming a chicken coop into a home using recycled materials, making a career as a woodworker, working with an array of found objects and salvaged materials, Sally gradually morphed into a true artist.  Exploring the many connections between the useful and the beautiful, she uses coconut shells, gourds, and colanders; hobby horses, Barbie dolls, and Red Tape, to make art.  Traveling locally, Sally discovered abundant riches close to home, in the hinterlands of South Jersey.  Her discoveries, coupled with her own work, demonstrate the significance of a public art made with recycled materials, culminating in this exhibit and accompanying book.        

Bottle Tree