Free Range

Simone Bodmer-Turner moved from New York City to rural Massachusetts a year ago for similar reasons to why many artists decamp for greener, more wide-open pastures. “We wanted more space, to invest in something instead of continuing to rent, and to find a better balance with nature,” says the objects and furniture designer. “Walking out the door and being in the middle of gardens, fields, and woods and having that be the ‘commute’ to the studio in the barn has been a really positive shift in our lives.” 

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Likewise, the change in scenery resonated throughout Bodmer-Turner’s practice. The 34-year-old had formerly focused on ceramics. But, without access to a full-size kiln in her new locale, she’s turned to alternate materials including wood, bronze, and silk. Now, the fruits of her creativity post-move are on view at New York’s Emma Scully Gallery, in a show matter-of-factly dubbed “A Year Without A Kiln.”

In her own telling, the artist is heavily influenced by the heavyweights of modernist sculpture. Think Constantin Brâncuși, Isamu Noguchi, and Barbara Hepworth. In the pastoral milieu of Massachusetts, Bodmer-Turner’s abstract forms appear to directly tap into the natural surroundings. See: a polished bronze Tadpole Bowl that sports a generalized silhouette of the titular creature around its rim; and a graceful, muted-green Molten Lily Sconce comprising two twisting stems, extending upwards into petals that conceal the light source. Then there’s her bronze and iron Winged Andirons, situated in the fireplace of the gallery’s preserved Beaux-Arts-style interior; these vaguely look like the gilded shoulder blades of some celestial, amorphous being. Two sinuous pine side tables, finished in an intense dark-hued Urushi lacquer, stand on elegant legs that look to almost be floating a fraction of an inch above the floor. Close by stands a screen made of cream-colored silk stretched over a steel frame, embodying a more geometric minimalist counterpoint. Still, the softness of the hue and fabric set it apart from the harsher, sharper norms of that aesthetic.

On a table in the center of the gallery is a spread of bone-white bits and pieces of sculpture, the shapes of which echo those of the completed works nearby. These, Bodmer-Turner explains, are ephemera harkening to the making of the exhibition. “The modeling was done in ceramic and plaster,” she says. “Through the molding processes, they got broken and disassembled. We displayed them like that so that you kind of see the vestiges of the process.”

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That less-than-polished-ness aspect, I feel, makes for a satisfying contrast to the range of beauteous objects on view in the rarified Upper East Side space. Perhaps the unapologetic coarseness of the tableau is even emblematic of a quiet freedom the artist has come to embrace in her new environs. 

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“A Year Without a Kiln” is on view through June 22, 2024 at Emma Scully Gallery at 16 East 79th Street, New York, NY, 10075.