About Bonnie
Baltimore City - Station North A&E District
Baltimore-based artist and mom Bonnie Crawford does not sleep well. Her work explores how intimacy, risk, and harm inform habits of care. She began working this way when she became a single mother of two and in turn became dependent on extralegal, queer family structures for support. She received an MFA from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a BA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland College Park. She was awarded a prize in the 2015 Juried… more
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Signature Care
How do we learn to care for ourselves and for our world? By weaving with dental floss, I contemplate the relationships between production, consumption, vulnerability, and care. Dental floss is made by workers overseas, using tiny plastic beads that pollute oceans.
Considering this fact, these labor-intensive sculptures become more than a one-dimensional exploration of care. They are a meditation on how an act of care in one direction can cause harm in another. I installed these sculptures in my backyard shed, offering a socially-distanced, in-person art viewing experience to the Baltimore community during the pandemic.
Considering this fact, these labor-intensive sculptures become more than a one-dimensional exploration of care. They are a meditation on how an act of care in one direction can cause harm in another. I installed these sculptures in my backyard shed, offering a socially-distanced, in-person art viewing experience to the Baltimore community during the pandemic.
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signature-care-01.jpgUntitled Dental Floss Weaving (Reach Mint Waxed), Dental Floss, 72 x 72 in.
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signature-care-01-detail.jpgDetail of Dental Floss Weaving (Reach Mint Waxed)
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signature-care-02.jpgDental Floss mounted on Gold Cardboard from Smoked Salmon Packaging, 7 x 7 in.
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signature-care-03.jpgDental Floss and Monofilament, 4 x 4 in.
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signature-care-04.jpgDental Floss and Magnifying Surface, Weaving is 4 x 4 in. Installation Dimensions Vary.
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signature-care-05.jpgDental Floss and Monofilament, 4 x 4 in.
Diptychs
My Diptychs pair images taken from my daily life as a queer mother of two. These images refer to the tension between feelings of comfort and harm that often occur simultaneously within domestic space or familial relationships.
Lying Next to a Hammer in Bed
Wall-based sculptures comprised of LED lights, wiring, fabric and craft supplies protrude from the walls to activate the space, mimicking neurological renderings and studies. The sculptures are installed over patterns made of digitally scanning drawings printed on fabric.
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Lying Next to a Hammer in BedElectrical circuit, clay, wood, digital print, 2018. Dimensions Variable.
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Lying Next to a Hammer in BedElectrical circuit, clay, wood, digital print, 2018. Dimensions Variable.
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Lying Next to a Hammer in BedElectrical circuit, clay, wood, digital print, 2018. Dimensions Variable.
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Lying Next to a Hammer in BedElectrical circuit, clay, wood, digital print, 2018. Dimensions Variable.
usually better than getting
usually better than getting is a site-specific installation installed in the dining room of a 1940s bungalow. A light-emitting improvisational sculpture pulses from behind the doors of a china cabinet.
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Improvisation in China HutchImprovisational sculptures installed in a china cabinet. Materials include wood, found objects, craft fur, and pulsing LED lights.
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wide-installation-shot-chinahutch.jpgInstallation view at China Hutch Projects
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Improvisation in China HutchImprovisational sculptures installed in a china cabinet. Materials include wood, found objects, craft fur, and pulsing LED lights.
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Improvisation in China HutchImprovisational sculptures installed in a china cabinet. Materials include wood, found objects, craft fur, and pulsing LED lights.
Insomnia Drawings
Inspired by the Insomnia Drawings series of Louise Bourgeois, I make drawings by the light of my phone when I awake in the night. I then photograph the drawings against the backdrop of my bed sheets using my phone’s camera. The flash of the camera creates a shadowy vignette that frames these watercolor drawings. From August of 2016 through November 2018, I made 400 drawings.
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Insomnia Drawing 400Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 2018. 5 x 7 in
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Insomnia Drawing 397Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 2018. 5 x 7 in
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Insomnia Drawing 394Watercolor and Ink on Paper, 2018. 5 x 7 in
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Insomnia Drawing 230watercolor and ink on paper
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Insomnia Drawing 149watercolor and ink on paper
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Insomnia Drawing 106watercolor and ink on paper
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Insomnia Drawing 090watercolor and ink on paper
or, if there be flooding
or, if there be flooding serves as an imagined response plan to a potential catastrophe. The title of this piece is a fragment from Advice to a Wife and Mother, published in 1878. Flooding, in the context of the book, refers to postpartum hemorrhaging. However, this euphemistic language can be more literally interpreted to reference natural disasters or rising sea levels. Blinking lights aimed at shadowy vignettes of accumulated detritus in the installation signal tenderly to the viewer a warning, a lament.
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or, if there be flooding (detail)Electrical circuitry, hand-stitched custom printed fabric, digital prints on Photo-Tex, latex wall paint, painted twigs, found materials
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or, if there be flooding (installation view)Electrical circuitry, hand-stitched custom printed fabric, digital prints on Photo-Tex, latex wall paint, painted twigs, found materials
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or, if there be flooding (detail)Electrical circuitry, hand-stitched custom printed fabric, digital prints on Photo-Tex, latex wall paint, painted twigs, found materials
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or, if there be flooding (installation view)Electrical circuitry, hand-stitched custom printed fabric, digital prints on Photo-Tex, latex wall paint, painted twigs, found materials
Light Emitting Studies
In Light Emitting Studies, I employ both cerebral and sensual faculties to make sculptures that combine tiny blinking electrical circuits with simple materials. Sensors integral to the circuits respond to ambient light and change the frequency at which the lights blink. I free-form solder the circuits into sculptural compositions and then augment them with art materials, brightly colored trash, and cheap craft supplies. The resultant amalgamations respond to the environment, signaling tenderly and playfully to the viewer.
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Light Emitting Study, 2016Wood, electrical circuit, fabric, craft supplies. 2016. 7 x 12 x 5 inches
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Light Emitting Study, 2016Wood, electrical circuit, printed fabric, paper, 2016. 12 x 12 x 5 in
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Light Emitting Study, 2016 (Detail)Wood, electrical circuit, printed fabric, paper, 2016. 12 x 12 x 5 in
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Light Emitting Study, 2016Wood, electrical circuitry, printed fabric, paint, 2016. 30 x 12 x 5 in