A Safe Place
By: Beth Cavener
Immediate response
At first glance, I thought that this piece was depicting some sort of animal cruelty as it initially looked like a fox was being stuffed into a suitcase. However, I then looked closer at the fox and its body language and recognized some signs in the fox’s body position that indicated that it was actually content and at peace sitting in the suitcase. One thing that jumped out at me was the fox’s head resting on the suitcase’s edge. One thing my dogs love to do is rest their heads on my legs. This shows they want to be near me. Similarly, the fox is resting his head on the suitcase which indicates his fondness for the suitcase. These initial thoughts were confirmed when I read the title of the piece which is “A Safe Place” thus indicating the fox feels at home in this tiny space.
Objective Description
In this sculpture, there is a fox that is laying in a brown, small suitcase. The foxes body takes up the entire suitcase. The fox’s head is resting on the corner of the suitcase. He has a blank expression on his face. The fox almost looks like he is gazing off into the distance. His tail droops off the side of the suitcase as well. His whole body is relaxed, and he does not indicate any signs of alertness or stress. The fox’s orange color contrasts with the dark brown color of the suitcase which draws attention to the fox and away from the suitcase.
Technical Decisions
In this section, I am going to focus on the composition of the sculpture. The artist could have created a lot of movement in this sculpture as animals are lively creates who exhibit captivating movements that would create an interesting sculpture. However, the artist chose to capture a fox at rest. Because of this, the sculpture exudes feelings of calmness and peace. If the artist were to have created a sculpture of a fox with lots of movement, then, as the viewers, we would assume the fox was unhappy, stressed, and anxious in the suitcase thus making the suitcase the opposite of a safe place. However, the artist chose to create a very harmonic piece of work that showcased the fox’s feeling of security in the suitcase.
The Work in the World
The reason I felt I really understood this sculpture was because the fox’s body language is so similar to that of my two dogs. I touched on this a bit in my immediate response, but the thing that drew me to this piece out of all of Beth Cavener’s other works was the familiarity of the piece. My dogs love to rest their heads on me and my other family members. Whenever we sit next to them, they always position themselves so that their paw or their head is touching us. I think this is how they show affection. Beth Cavener was able to capture this fondness and warmness in her sculpture by placing the fox’s head on the edge of the suitcase with his tail loosely hanging over the edge. These little details show how at home the fox feels in his box.
The Story it Tells
In this Sculpture, the fox has made a home in some worn-out suitcase. I think the fox was walking through a neighborhood when he found a thrown-out suitcase. Foxes tend to like manmade things better than natural habitats which is why they tend to make frequent appearances in neighborhoods or at schools. It’s reasonable to assume someone threw out their suitcase and the fox made a home out of it. The saying “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” comes to mind when viewing this sculpture. He seems at peace in his new home which delights the viewer.