GLOUCESTER, MA.- Sarah Hardesty, an installation sculptor from Tucson, AZ, is the third of four artists selected this year to participate in the Rocky Neck Residency Program. She will introduce herself and show slides of her work at the Avery Mann Gallery, 77 Rocky Neck Ave., on Thursday, August 3 at 7 pm.

Hardesty investigates skin as a metaphor for protection, comfort, containment, and the fragility and resilience of life. She addresses the potential and limitations of this barrier to reveal and conceal and to narrate—through scars, wrinkles, spots, and pores—the passing of time in human experience. The Residency artists were selected because they demonstrate high-level accomplishment, originality, and seriousness of purpose. The program includes prime studio/gallery/living space in Rocky Neck, opportunities to lecture and show their work, and access to the rich cultural community of Rocky Neck and Cape Ann.

“Abstraction plays an important role in my work, says Hardesty. “I intend to create a space for the viewer to approach the work, a liminal space between the comfortable and the unknown.” Drawing from her near-death experience from bacterial meningitis, which left her with visible scars, Hardesty says “These scars signify an abrupt interruption in a smooth situation, tell my story, and become metaphors for growth and beauty realized through the hardships of physical and emotional challenges.”

The materials she uses are vital in conveying these ideas. “I use lycra and vinyl to create boundaries or skins that hold activity below. There is a sense of comfort and safety that the outer layer portrays. What lies below is revealed either by the transparency of the vinyl/lycra or openings that act as windows,” says Hardesty. She works mainly with fabrics and plastics on wood panel and has also created large-scale installations involving padded walls, plexi-glas, sound, and video.

Hardesty holds an MFA in painting from the University of Arizona in Tucson and a BS in Studio Arts from Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY. She has had numerous exhibitions in Tucson, Boston, New York City, Nogales, Mexico and Cambridge MA. She was the Executive Director for the Dinnerware Contemporary Arts Gallery in Tucson; an adjunct instructor at the University of Arizona; co-founded 9 yards, an artist collaborative originally based in Boston; and serves on the Tucson/Pima Arts Council.