Kristen Fissell

Nourishment

10.5x16 inch painted wood puzzle on table 

What is it that nourishes us?This was a question I pondered when I took all the food items out of our home refrigerator and filled the inside shelves with books. When my spouse got home from work it looked like there had been an explosion in the kitchen! Food items on every horizontal surface behind me as I was trying to herd our cat out of the way long enough to capture a photo of this short-lived sculpture installation. The photograph of our refrigerator full of books was my main image I chose to depict for our puzzle project. Taking it to the Maker’s Space at the Roger Williams Library, Chris Truszkowski was able to laser this image into wood and also have it cut into a puzzle. After it was cut, I then applied paint to the surface of the puzzle. I delighted in how some of the book titles sunk into the wood or stood out after having been laser cut, enjoying how the paint interacted with the wood texture to give it almost a quilt-like quality. Moving toward the table where the puzzle is displayed and contained on, I cut and sanded longer pieces of wood to create shallow edges I then glued on the outer top sides. I painted the table a pale butter-yellow and set the finished puzzle in the middle. It was here I noticed all the different ways the image is framed: with the wood edges, the puzzle itself, the refrigerator sides, the individual shelving. I love all the elements that come together to create an interactive piece that can be approached and taken apart, put back together. I want my audience to contemplate all the items we place in our refrigerators to make food, how putting books in this space transforms this kitchen appliance, how making the image into a puzzle changes the dynamic even more. I am thinking about feeding our minds, how books translate knowledge and personal experiences, the nourishment that occurs in domestic spaces. What is it that nourishes you? That nourishes us?