FRAGMENTS OF WAVES | SERIES STATEMENT

As Kadri contemplates this body of work and what it means to her, she considers the physical and figurative flows of energy and matter in her personal life, her creative process, and the greater push and pulls occurring in the world:

“Everywhere we are surrounded by water, but there are different seas on all sides of us. The seas back home are completely different from the oceans here in the US. Some are calm, some appear scary. Even though it’s all the same water, its characteristics are completely different depending on where you stand.

With so many crazy events happening in the world, on our changing planet, we need ways to ground ourselves. On the physiological level, our moods and ideas change constantly, affecting our day-to-day lives and the people around us. We often need a break from the waves despite the constant movement. Even when the waves are calm, there is still motion, a continuous ebb and flow. My smaller wave forms speak to this feeling of the “sea”; the changing tide, the lows and highs, the stillness and turbulence. Waves themselves move and interact differently, and not just by themselves, but by much larger, planetary forces beyond their control. They, like us, are knocked over, moved, and forced to interact and change with each new moment. 

Fragments of Waves differs in form and scale while tracing a clear flow of consciousness from Kadri’s past works. Works are placed in rows like thoughts drifting to the surface, contained in their individualism, but connected as part of a wider sea or ecosystem. Her surface treatments, which alternate between matte respites and shimmering, effervescent blue glaze, speak not only to the glimmer of sun on water, but to the changing environment back home in Massachusetts. Residing along the Westfield River, Pärnamets works amongst an everpresent soundtrack of the river’s current and the hush of waving willow trees. In the studio and on her daily walks through the neighborhood, she is always observing, listening, and finding inspiration in the acute timbres and textures of the changing New England seasons.