Jessie Herndon

Busty, View 1, Hand-carved Corset, 12 x 8 x 17, Mahogany, Maple, and Paduck wood with bent wood laces

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Jessie Herndon is a mixed media artist with a particular focus in wood carving sculpture. Her represented series consists of life-size, hand carved wooden corsets, stitched up with bent wood laces. The curvaceous forms and subject matter are suggestive of women’s sexuality in our culture, and represent beauty and femininity, as well as illustrate the conformity among women in various cultures. In a deeper sense, they are a literal form of beauty being put on display, while referencing the gaze.

On a sculptural level, these wood pieces can be seen as an exploration into form, wood, aesthetics, and using the wood lamination to create different patterns on the form itself. Something about wood really speaks to me, and is a medium I plan on continuing to work with and evolve my woodworking body of work. I want to create additional corsets that vary in form, wood, and style, while also creating abstract, sculptural wood forms.

My intent is to allow the viewer to find something unique in the piece that speaks to them and hopefully sparks curiosity about the piece, how it’s made, and what it represents to them.