Nora Valdez: ‘Walking with Memories’

By Richard L. Brown Herald Staff

Nora Valdez’s show “Walking with Memories” at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center Gallery in West Rutland expresses the universal sense of rootlessness that everyone who has experienced involuntary relocation has felt, and the profound sense of loss that goes with leaving familiar places.

Valdez grew up and studied in Argentina, and has lived in Brazil, Italy, Spain and the United States. Speaking of her peripatetic life she writes that, “It feels like I keep carrying my luggage or baggage all the time. I feel I’m from here, there and nowhere.”

This show is all about that displacement. The artist is represented by an inchoate, near life-size female “everywoman” mannequin lacking arms and facial features, its gender specified only by long hair and the moderate swell of breasts. Its barely-suggested clothing is an undecorated housedress differentiated from the figure only by a neckline, hem and two front pockets. Having no identity, no hands with which to communicate by sign or by writing and no arms for defense, the mannequin is emblematic of the powerlessness of those carried helplessly through the world by family relocation, domestic division and the victimization of women.

The mannequin appears in several variations in carved limestone and in accompanying pen-and-ink and pastel pieces. Its most prominent features are large, sturdy feet, which carry it from place to place. Without sensory organs and the ability to grasp, hold or hug, the figure is capable of only one activity: walking.

“Long Path” epitomizes Valdez’s experience of perpetual relocation: a small mannequin, about 10 inches high, trudges along a black marble path, carrying a house on its back.

Carved blocks resembling pieces of luggage are scattered around the gallery, in some cases serving as plinths for the mannequin forms. Symbols of transience: packages, suitcases, etc., are especially prominent in the two-dimensional work, where the subject of one drawing is “My Father’s Suitcase,” and even some figures are wrapped, mummy-like, as packages.

Valdez’s chosen sculptural medium is limestone. Rather than the elegance and preciosity associated with marble, limestone expresses a certain stolidity and strength. It’s the yeoman of the mineral kingdom, the unquestioning and unglamorous worker that takes on whatever job is assigned to it.

In that sense the material manifests the spirit of Valdez’s mannequin, which represents the dogged persistence of the human will to persevere in the face of outrageous fortune.

The theme-with-variations approach can be risky for visual artists. Repeated forms can lead to a dulling sameness. Valdez escapes that pitfall by making each iteration of the mannequin unique without compromising the uniformity of the set.

In “Weeping Woman” she adds eye slits from which large teardrops flow down the form. In “Motherhood” the dress is slightly ornamented and two children are added. Because the figure has no arms, the children can’t be held; instead, they are appended: a girl clings to the mother’s dress and a boy is tucked into the figure’s belt.

Valdez’s work illustrates the effectiveness of autobiographical work when it is used to convey concepts common to humanity rather than to relate a narcissistic narrative.

The show will be on view through Sept. 28 at the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center Gallery at 259 Marble St. in West Rutland. Call 438-2097 for information.