Woolsey 1 Sculpture

Woolsey is named after the 2018 Woolsey Fire, which burned almost 97,000 acres of land in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The fire started in Woolsey Canyon and was propelled in large part by the Santa Ana winds, engulfing and destroying historic movie and TV sets, ranches and homes, and causing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents. Once the fire was out and the smoke had abated, Maszkiewicz explored the burned areas. She gathered pieces of charred wood and began incorporating them into an ongoing series of kinetic sculptures. Working in her family’s furniture shop, she used various veneers to suspend the wood in its fire-ravaged state. The small-scale sculptures pair form with material to investigate balance points, gravity, and the way a viewer’s presence influences the movement of the works.