Paula WhaleySculptor
Baltimore, MD |
BiographyPaula Whaley is a figurative sculptor who uses paper, fabric, and other natural materials to create stylized sculptural figures. She is a graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York and the Cadres Couture in Paris, France. In 1987, after the death of her older brother, author James Baldwin, Paula began to work with clay as a means to heal from her loss. Leaving the world of fashion behind, Whaley moved on to figurative sculptures composed of clay, wood, metal, paper, and fabric. Whaley's figures typically have outsized, flowing garments, elongated limbs, and eyes closed as if in states of meditation, prayer, or self-reflection. Though her pieces share these distinctive characteristics, Whaley never creates multiples: each is a singular object.
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The immersive installation Whaley has created for LOCALLY SOURCED is reflective of her gallery on Charles Street. The arrangement of sculptures mimics her window display and recreates the intimate and sensory experience of her studio. Active in the Station North community, Whaley exhibits local artists in the storefront gallery of her home, and provides an intimate learning space for sculpture workshops, partnering with groups including Baltimore’s Youth Resiliency Institute. Her studio and the artwork within it provides an environment that encourages calm and reflection, serving as a retreat for her community. Whaley has an alternative way of networking that is uncommon in today’s saturated art world—instead of seeking out an audience, people come to her in her own space.
For her work in LOCALLY SOURCED, Paula Whaley found herself “taking risks with new materials and not knowing how everything would turn out.” For her figures Wisdom and The Mystic, the artist focused her attention on an increase in scale in comparison to past work. Whaley also added installation elements and abstract dimensions to her pieces for the show, like a driftwood swing created for her figure Earth Goddess. She also experimented with new materials like plaster in The Art of Healing. |
All Original Content © 2014 Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), MICA Curatorial Practice MFA Program Class of 2015, and the artists