Can you describe some of your favorite projects and discuss the concepts behind those pieces?
I did love making the statue of Edgar Alan Poe. The idea behind this piece was to create a sculpture that could only make sense in Boston—it couldn’t just be a statue of Poe on a plinth. So, I designed a piece that would capture Poe’s rather complicated relationship with Boston. On the one hand, he felt rejected by the city’s literary critics, a group he called the “frogpondians,” so named after the Frog Pond in the Boston Common. But on the other hand, he loved Boston because he was born there, and his mother met with some success there as an actress.
The King and The Queen, two life-size wood sculptures, were also favorite projects. They represent the complications of leadership, power, and sexism. The King is entirely self-involved, while The Queen is open, turning to look behind her in part to protect herself. Her crown, although aesthetically pleasing, is burdensome, heavy. Women in power still have a difficult time of it.
Read the full interview with Steff Rocknak in The Blue Mountain Review, December 2022
