Morgan Petitpas

My work is fueled by juxtaposition, duality, and a sense of the interconnectedness of all things. My childhood was spent in the great outdoors and at antique stores, my thoughts come in the forms of calculated numbers and imaginary colors, and my spirit is both playful and grave. I work with vast forms while maintaining moments of miniscule detail and choose to reclaim traditional women’s handiwork to create the untraditional. By using bright colors and touchable textures, I hope to bring warmth and light to the dark crevices within us. Through fastening fibers to found objects, I invite you to a world where the connections are limitless and the blue between the clouds is a shape of its own. 

Heart Brake consists of a shattered brake light transformed into a beating human heart. Despite feeling broken, the heart keeps beating slow and steady. This piece, along with most of my work, conveys a message of hope through the pain.

My piece, Dreamcatcher represents a section of a bridge with a colorfully crocheted suicide net, cradling waking nightmares and preventing them from plummeting into an irreversible unknown. Sagging depressions in the net recall the memory of fetal-position weights transformed into dangling colorful gumballs. Beauty lies not in pain but in the potential to overcome or coexist with pain. Second chances are lifesaving; we all have safety nets if we just know where to fall.

Sacred Stash pays homage to a psychotropic plant that both heals and hinders. The stoner finds fulfillment in small moments, but may relinquish some of the dissatisfaction it takes to evolve. The sacredness of this piece is both serious and satiric; it can be a life-saving plant, but perhaps does not warrant the worship it sometimes receives.

In Search of Golden Serotonin shows the molecular structure of serotonin, a chemical that acts as a neurotransmitter and is associated with a sense of well-being. Persistent low moods and energy can lead one to feel that this simple brain chemical is a long-lost treasure of gold waiting to be rediscovered.

Legs takes my worn-out boots and remembers an outline of the legs that once wore them. This piece speaks to the memories held within inanimate objects. Dirt from the places I’ve traversed and milk splatters from my job as a barista remain frozen in time. 

The Magnet is a symbol of attraction, addiction, and 4th grade science projects. This piece appears magnetized to the wall, displaying its accumulated objects. 

Velodramatic fuses the antiquated with the future. A penny-farthing bicycle formed from a spinning wheel and a banjo frame is reimagined in plushy chrome. 

My work aims to spread joy and hope while acknowledging pain and hard truths. As Voltaire said, “Life is a shipwreck, but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats.”