Rose B. Simpson

Return of Saturn II (d)

Artist Rose B. Simpson creates clay figures inspired by her matrilineal line of Santa Clara Pueblo potters. In Return of Saturn II (d), Simpson employs a technique she created called “slap-slab,” in which each layer of red earthen clay dries quickly, leaving behind fingerprints as evidence of her process. Simpson hollows out the eyes to draw attention to the idea of watching and being watched. As she says, “witnessing happens both ways. Viewers may be looking at the sculpture but the work is also watching them.”1 For Simpson, mixed media is a language to overcome borders that divide cultural experiences. The title of this work, Return of Saturn II (d), may allude to the beginning and end of the three-year astrological event known as a Saturn return, which is associated with a period of clarity, wisdom, and retrospection.