The pill is a quintessential icon of American culture. It encapsulates our history, shapes our lives – both private and social – and embodies our belief in limitless progress and our pursuit of happiness, youth, longevity, sexual prowess, and freedom from a multitude of physical and emotional woes many of which, some would argue, are inherent in the human condition.  Pills are both glorified and demonized, freighted by social and quasi-moral ramifications and propelled on to the marketplace by the euphoric hope that a miracle medication has been discovered.

Terry Maker conjures works of great beauty and moral significance by the intentional “repurposing” of the detritus and debris that accumulates in contemporary life. She states:  “In my art-making process I use a variety of commonplace, discarded, domestic objects combined with traditional art-making materials to compose sculptural forms that are subsequently cast, cut, drilled and scraped to reveal the 'guts' of the matter. Through this process, I curate selected forms that speak to the physical and spiritual concerns inherent in the human condition.” The benefits of repurposing or “recycling” discarded material is almost universally recognized in many countries of the developed world, and Maker’s artistic practice can be linked to the economic, moral, political and aesthetic reasons to participate in that endeavor. 

While Maker is quick to credit her many and disparate artistic influences, she is also a believing Christian. The patient, obsessive attentiveness she gives to every aspect of her art practice and the ways in which the work lands so strongly on our heart and minds is Terry Maker’s confession of her faith. 

• Simon Zalkind, Curator
• Questioning the powers of medicine’s little helpers: Terry Maker explores our reliance on pills
• Open Wide in the Winter 2016 edition of Modern in Denver magazine