Nicole Havekost has always been fascinated by the makeup of the human body – both the parts we can control and the parts we can’t.
“Bodies are weird,” said the artist, a native of Fort Collins, Colorado, who has made her home in Rochester the past 17 years. “It’s weird living in one. We all try to live a civilized life, but then there are things like a runny nose, spitting or an ingrown toenail that we can’t control.
“We exist out in the world, but the body has other needs it takes care of by itself. I’ve always found that dichotomy to be really interesting.”
As an artist, Havekost has also long explored the possibilities of working with wool felt.
And the intersection of those two interests forms the core of “Totemic,” an exhibition of large-scale wool felt sculptures now on display through March 11 at the Alice R. Rogers and Target Gallery at Saint John’s University.
The exhibition is made up of a series of large figures shaped using wool felt, scissors and a needle. The work showcases Havekost’s artistic exploration over the past several years, including pieces put together for an exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.
“These are part of a series of works I started making for fun in 2019,” she said. “They’re figurative, but they don’t have a head, hands or feet, which makes them more feral in nature. And they’re big.
“It started out as dolls about 10 to 12 inches tall, but when I put together a proposal for the Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program at the MIA, it was for a 2,000-square foot space and the work started getting bigger and bigger. Now most of the figures are between six and 10 feet.”
Havekost – who attended the Rhode Island School of Design and received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of New Mexico – has also previously shown her work at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the Rochester Arts Center and other venues.
“Lots of people have mentioned how the figures feel motherly, like you need to give them a hug or they could give you one,” she said. “Some of them do have gestures or positions related to mothering, caretaking and exhaustion.”
Havekost said she was drawn to the size of the gallery at SJU and the opportunities that presented.
“It’s such a gorgeous space,” she said. “As soon as I saw that, I was very interested in showing there. I especially loved the big cathedral ceilings.
“I’m just really excited to have the chance to put my work on display in a setting like that.”