Sandra Cardew, Spinning Wheel, 2004
November 1, 2024
Sandra Cardew is a Detroit-area artist known for her evocative mixed media works that explore themes of memory, loss, and the limits of the human body. Born in Detroit in 1947 and a seasoned dancer, she did not develop her professional visual art practice until later in life; she pursued BFA and MFA degrees from Wayne State University, graduating in 1992.[1] Her art is characterized by collaged scenes and anthropomorphic figures which are at once emotive and detached, ethereal and chthonic. For commentator Steve Panton: “At times it seems that the only thing stopping the pieces exploding from the power of the contradictory emotions they invoke is the suture-like stitching that literally and metaphorically holds the oddly-collaged parts together.”[2]
For this work from 2004, Cardew constructed a shadow box scene wherein a shrouded solitary figure sits beside a makeshift spinning wheel in a room with earthy patchwork wallpaper. The piece appears to be crafted with miscellaneous found objects—a beehive-like bobbin, a small broken reel, patterned and dyed cloth scraps, and bits of recycled wood. A thin white string guides the viewer from the figure’s hands to the wheel and up to a hook in the upper right corner; the string runs back down to the figure, who now appears to dangle precariously from above, an impression further compounded by their foot which hangs beyond the box’s lower edge. Death seems to emerge as a central theme (is the spinner’s struggle literal or metaphorical? Are they tied to or freed from the work performed? Does the act of spinning transcend the work itself?), yet the composition exudes a sense of calm through balance and tone. Perhaps the spinner has found peace in their eternal toiling at the spinning wheel, as the performance continues even as time seems suspended.
Another interesting narrative emerges from a study of the flow of color. The spinner’s side of Spinning Wheel is backgrounded by muted gray colors, while the opposite side is brighter with warmer reds and patterns. The far left features a tall pedestal crowned with a many-faceted jewel-like object; the path of reds leads upwards from the spool to this jewel, which could be read as the unattainable goal that kept the spinner spinning. If so, the piece evokes further mourning for the spinner whose own wheel has hung her to death in pursuit of that elusive jewel.
Spinning Wheel seems to epitomize Cardew’s practice both in content and medium, as she often experiments with sculptural forms, printmaking, and fiber arts to evoke the uncanny and the surreal. Cardew has been lauded widely and featured in numerous exhibitions throughout her career, including a recent show at Hatch Art in Hamtramck.
written by Sarah Teppen