Fly Freeman

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Fly Freeman is a sculptor who has been a resident of Uxbridge, Ontario, since she arrived from Europe in 2001. She arrived as a stone carver but has since expanded her sculptural practice to include many other materials, realizing that the same ideas can be explored with glass and wood, as with tons of granite in a quarry. Her work investigates the unseen physical forces of gravity and friction; balance and tension.

Canada has opened her up to a more extreme climate and a series of works that look at summer thermals in the air; winter energy banked under dormant forms.

“Connection and disconnection, the fragility of our relationships, relationships between people, relationships between ourselves and our environment… My work has reflected an increased sense of vulnerability and fragility in the last few years, creating work with long lines of glass held in strange scaffolds; slowly moving, suspended pieces full of colour and light; and carvings that are all about the knots and folds of kinship.

As someone who immigrated to a new country a couple of decades ago, leaving friends and family behind in Europe, I have always been interested in separation, and how we stay in touch across time and distance. I think a lot of my work contains distance, as so many of my family ties and friendships have now contained it for years.

My sculptures are always exploring ideas of balance and movement, but now colour is more present and a language I am beginning to learn.”