HOpe College De Pree Gallery
January 16-February 13, 2026

Thick and Thin explores the balance of holding on and falling apart. Through kinetic sculpture, installation, drawing, and photography, Walcott reflects on the subtle strain of daily labor—both visible and invisible, physical and emotional. Utilizing familiar materials such as cords, bristles, insulation, shelf brackets, and fan motors, she creates precarious, often humorous environments where the functional becomes formal, drawing attention to the routines of care and maintenance. During her sabbatical in the spring semester of 2025, Walcott studied the material and conceptual possibilities of craft, exploring material traditions, ideas of labor, and artistic hierarchies through art-historical research and hands-on making.

Domestic support structures like racks, bars, and railings often appear stressed, sagging, or barely intact. These structures stand in for the fragile scaffolding that underpins caregiving and emotional support, revealing both resilience and vulnerability. Many objects in the exhibition occupy the space of a figure, referencing the human body and giving the exhibition a palpable sense of presence. 

The phrase “thick and thin” conveys a range of physical attributes in the lines of the show while also carrying the weight of endurance: a commitment to remain, persist, and continue regardless of the circumstances. This theme is present in the collage series What if I did it a hundred times? developed through daily practice, repetitive kinetics, and strained support structures. The work in the exhibition plays with line quality to connect, trace, tether, weave, and hoist. Some lines are thick and taut, some are sagging and looping, and some are barely holding together. There are also invisible lines within the cause-and-effect system of smart home controllers, which respond to presence, trigger tasks, and symbolize ongoing maintenance. 

Walcott is interested in overlap, ambiguity, and complexity—areas where one thing can also be another. Slippery language, contingent gestures, hybrid forms, and visual complexities guide her process. Movement is often tethered and cyclical, powered by absurd or improvised systems that mimic real-life care routines and spontaneous ingenuity. These sculptural actions are humble yet charged, revealing the strange choreography involved in maintaining balance, especially when things seem on the verge of falling apart.