Hilary Tait Norod
If You're A Chair, I'm A Chair
antique, wooden chairs, twine, wood, fabric, yarn, paint and other mixed materials
2018
Coming from a lineage of close mother - daughter relationships, strengthening and supporting their daughters, while subconsciously projecting fear. Entering motherhood myself with a baby girl, I looked to sculptural work differently. Joining of objects reflect the binding of identities within marriage and parent to child.
Hilary Tait Norod is a mixed media artist working south of Boston in her home studio. Her large-scale surreal paintings and composite sculptural objects are shaped through explorations of domesticity and gender equity.
Norod’s autobiographical approach to her work examines ideas of domestic partnerships, marriage, cultural expectations of gender, and the transformation into motherhood. Norod employs a thinking-as-making process to both her painting and sculptural practices. She uses visual clues of domestic imagery, human forms and color partnerships as a stand-in for social, biological and cultural influences that mix with a personal history of identity and romantic experiences. Reflecting on conversations with her loved ones, especially her husband, the narratives highlight the unfinished business of love and intimacy. Translating these vulnerable sensibilities and cultural frictions the investigation is feminist, provisional and determined.
Norod is a graduate of Lesley University’s MFA Program and Skidmore College where she was awarded the Presidential Award in 2018 and the Jesse Soloman Award for most outstanding painting in 2009. Most recently she was selected as one of the 2019 Walter Feldman Fellowship Finalists from the Arts & Business Council of Boston. Her work is included in private and commercial collections across the country.
