A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Canadian based artist and sculptor Debra Bernier uses driftwood remnants to carve stunning sculptures of female and infant figures. In an interview to BoredPanda Bernier expresses the idea her art originated from, “ When I work with driftwood, I never start with a blank canvas. Each piece of driftwood is already a sculpture, created by the caresses of the waves and wind. The wood tells a story and I try to think of its journey as I hold it in my hand. I extend or shorten the curves and contours that already exist into familiar shapes of animals or peoples’ faces.“

Bernier’s driftwood sculpture collection respects the true, and unrefined form of the discarded canvas, and her engravings become a part of it, neither softening the brutal texture nor disintegrating it to support her figures. The nurturing female figures, and infants growing in the womb of the driftwood creations, gently speaks of the delicate connection between the symbolic representation of mother earth, nature and humanity. The cycle is a transfer of energy and form from decaying minerals back into the earth before it becomes a part of another creation, watched over by the planet, represented as the carved female form. Find her work in her Etsy shop.