MEADOW & FAWN
Infinity in the Palm of Your Hand
Alexis Savopoulos’ works of art—worlds of art—embody the spirit of William Blake’s stanza from Auguries of Innocence where he equates creative expression as being a desire “to see the World in a Grain of Sand And a Heaven in a Wild Flower/ Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand And Eternity in an hour…”
You see, Savopoulos, who started her career as a painter, now makes little universes that can fit neatly into the palm of one’s hand. Delicate clay sculptures of foxes, birds, deer and other forest dwellers combine with little bits and pieces of nature found in the woods by her home to create these unique works of art that revel in the beauty, purity and simplicity of the world around us. Savopoulos creates these works under the pseudonym Meadow & Fawn.
Her new exhibition, which is currently on display at the Haven Gallery in Northport, New York, is titled Dance of Stars and the new works “revolve around the theme of night life in the natural world, when the constellations are visible and nocturnal animals are most alive and integrated with
the light of the stars and moon.”
The pieces in this current exhibition are made up of “sculptures within glass domes, wooden shadow boxes, and vintage and antique glass trinket boxes” and a handful of oil and acrylic paintings. The various pieces show Savopoulos’ range and depth as an artist. The Howl is a shadow box depicting a white wolf within an intricate and intimate world of flowers and plants while Dreaming is a 5-inch ceramic sculpture of a red fox with a smaller scene of foxes playing in the wilderness at night painted on its side.
“Many of the pieces I create have scenes alongside the painted clay sculptures that consist of natural findings from the woods I live nearby,” says Savopoulos. “I have found that this process of creating with the use of moss, wood, flowers, stones, dirt and
other collected bits that can be preserved to last for many years spark a more genuine connection with nature.”
This current exhibition will also touch upon themes of astrology and mythology that Savopoulos connects with while searching the woods for the items to use in each work.
“The ties with astrology are very much present in this exhibition through Haven Gallery,” says Savopoulos. “Through my work, I find the most happiness in imbuing my current emotions, beliefs and interests into these varying mediums to create small whimsical worlds that people feel they could jump in to and also find a sense of peace within.”