Missives from the care bubble
Kate Holcomb Hale's "lean, STAND, Collapse" at the Danforth embodies the invisible labor of caregiving – a video Q&A
So much happens around the kitchen table. “Feeding the family, conversation, emailing,” Boston artist Kate Holcomb Hale said during our Zoom conversation, posted below.
She started making slip covers for her kitchen table and stuffing them. One of those soft sculptures, “the dog listens better than you,” is the centerpiece of her show “lean, STAND, Collapse” at the Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University – an exhibition that feels like home.
Thepaint-mottled, inverted table with splayed legs anchors a domestic space. Other tables slouch and slump against a wall. Talking with Kate, I described the show as “receptive” a lot, and I kept leaning back and splaying my arms – needing, somehow, to reenact what I saw: Exhausted figures, soft places to fall. “Lean, STAND, Collapse” is a place I felt I could bring my stress, be accepted, and begin to relax.
Kate knows stress. In the space of five years, she lost three family members. First her mother, then her father, who died just before COVID shut down the world. Then she was home with her partner and two children, juggling her art practice, parenting, and managing her father’s estate. Last summer, her brother died. In all three cases, there’s grief, and there’s the work of wrapping up a loved one’s material life.
“I’ve realized I’m capable of a lot more than I ever thought I was,” she said.
She brought all of it to the kitchen table.
Over Zoom, we chatted about the invisible labor of caregiving (she talks about disappearing into a “care bubble”), moving through grief, giving substance to memories, honoring lost loved ones, and the necessity of leaning on others. (And yes, I mispronounce her name in the intro. I was so focused on “Kate” I added a K to “Hale.” I’m sorry, Kate.) Please click”play” to watch.
Collaboration is one way to lean, and Kate partnered with dancers Nora Stephens and MacKenzie LeTorré. Their video, which on view in the show, features Nora and Mackenzie – surging, collapsing, carrying each other through the rooms and hallways of Kate’s own home. Kate’s animations of the soft sculptures are also in the mix. They’ll perform “WE ALWAYS GET BACK UP” live in the gallery on Jan. 14.
On Jan. 7, Kate and psychologist and educator Dr. Noelle P. Roop will have a conversation at the Danforth about “lean, STAND, Collapse” and Noelle’s research on seeking empathy and discovering resilience in artistic practice.
All of Kate’s bridge-building feeds a network of support. So does making art, which she sees as an act of self-care. So much has changed for her in recent years, and she’s still making sense of it all. She sees more art, and more collaboration, ahead.
*The painter who focuses on the invisible labor of care I mention in my conversation with Kate is Megan Arné. She was one of my MFA grads to watch out for in the Globe last spring.
I wish I could see this exhibit in person. The ideas you’ve expressed - “the kitchen table” , ‘care bubble’, and the soft sculptures.
Lean, stand, collapse describes caregiving and the grief of loss and resonates to anyone who has been in this position.