"True hogritude - the mystical essence and condition of being an actual hog - demands extended periods of meditation." * Humans, like hogs, require a place and time for meditation. Though most of these hogs are snoozing or "meditating," one had been startled by an intruder.
This situations serves as a metaphor for the uneasiness the people who appreciate this meadow feel at the sight of encroaching development.
These hogs are my way of expressing gratitude to the plants, animals and open space for what they have given me. The hogs are gifts, which will slowly give up their attributes. The cow manure of which some are made is a present for the tree and grasses. The alfalfa, pecans, acorns, seeds and Crisco found in the other hogs are gifts to the animals and insects.
The process of deterioration is important because in order for the gifts to be received they must lose their old forms and become something else. In this process these hogs, which are a fertility symbol (Demeter's Avatar), the cycle of death and rebirth are re-enacted.
It is my hope that the sight of these lounging hogs will help recall a pleasant condition of undisturbed human "hogritude."
*"Hogritude" is a word described by William Hedgepeth in his book The Hog Book, 1978.
Ms. Cook is from Dallas, Texas. She was born in Arkansas and grew up moving around the U.S. as an "Army brat." Ms. Cook returned to school and received a Master of Occupational Therapy degree from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas. Her training in art and therapy came together when she created a neo-natal positioner, a device to hold low birth-weight babies in optimal postures for physical functioning. White working full-time as an occupational therapist, Ms. Cook did graduate work in sculpture and ceramics at the University of Dallas. She is currently a Master of Fine Arts Degree candidate in ceramics at U of D, while practicing as a hand therapist at St. Paul Hospital.
She has exhibited her work throughout Texas since 1990 and has received numerous awards. She has also illutrated a book and publishied papers in her field of occupaational therapy.
Ms. Cook's installation at Connemara, constructed of environmentally friendly mixed media, depicts pigs.
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