From an early age I have seemed to float without anchor, never quite landing. I have felt interminably homesick and misplaced. The artwork I present here is a means to transform this floating disconnect into an understanding of place, presence and identity. Using a myriad of mediums and forms, I ask: What is this thing called home? When yearning for home, what am I yearning for? Is it a means to belong, to feel safe, noticed? I find this to be an endless and mostly joyful pursuit. I take on what I love and what surrounds me, including finds on my walks in the woods: collections of fallen cedars, bones, and invasive vines. I get to invent all kinds of houses and homes, or perhaps they are temples; iconic and solitary, sideways and broken, playful and impermanent, and yet always grounded and present.
Bio: Candace Compton Pappas was born in California and received a BFA in Sculpture from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1973. Her art education continued while immersed in the Woman’s Building in Los Angeles, participating in performance and a myriad of community programs. At the age of 44, Candace moved to Michigan with a young family where, 25 years later, she works and resides on 12 acres of woodland.