This work was created specifically to participate in the juried group exhibition, Hole History Show III: Origins of the American-Style Donut, installed at the Lewis Gallery of the Portland Public Library in 2022. Created as both a curatorial a public history engagement project by curator Alexis Iammaro this show was both a joy and a challenge to participate in. The resulting piece was an assemblage of family history, family junk, memory, time, and patience.
Donut was inspired by the entertaining, if not sometimes disconcerting or disturbing, tales my father would tell about his childhood in Maine. After recording several hours of interviews with my father the audio was edited down to two stories: one about his manic grandmother who would make donuts until they were literally strung from the rafters and hidden everywhere in the house; the other about his father's job at a local bakery which eventually turned into a chain bakery-distributor (this story may actually be about industrialization/mechanization, class, and father-son relationships).
The sculptural assemblage was directly inspired by my father's stories, featuring family photos, historic ads I found in research, and plaster representations of my great-grandmother's donuts.