Boxes
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed
A Life Well Lived
2012
mixed
17 3/4"x 12" x 7 5/16"

Constance Kiermaier Boxes Mixed Media
Lockard's Box
1980
Mixed Media
6" x 14" x 8 1/2"

Lockhart Kiermaier - complex, intense, intelligent Maine man. Alone, he built his first house on a high hill with a broad view. A place he believed in to raise his family well. Throughout the changes of his life, somehow he comes back to houses to make into a home, where he pursues his love of poetry, Matinicus Island, the Grateful Dead, his local radio broadcast, running, and his dog, and of course, his two grown gifted children. He is a man happiest in his own place.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
My Childhood Roots
1986
mixed media
9.5" x 16" x 5.5"

This is a box addressing an atmosphere that I grew up with on a farm in Hanover County, VA. This was a Southern place, the fields had been battlefields in the Confederate War. The African-Americans who lived on the farm farmed and cooked; their presence was essential and an important part of my life there. My father and mother were mavericks in the Southern rural society. Both my mother and father were doers. My mother papered the walls, painted rooms, tended a beautiful garden, canned vegetables by the bushel, was a fearsome member of the local church; she also sewed, read and painted landscapes. She played the piano and sang well. My father collected and raised all sorts of chickens, sheep, pigs, geese, turkeys, horses, a mule and a pony. The culture was in some ways sophisticated and in some ways a slow southern dream with katydids calling me to sleep.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
My Childhood Roots
1986
mixed media
9.5" x 16" x 5.5"

detailed view
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media hanging box
Number Tale - Aught
1987
mixed media hanging box
20" x 16" x 5 1/9"

Before the beginning - This box is the story of before the numbers began. The vision of babies in the sky awaiting a place and time to leave the clouds and crawl down the stairs of the sky, arrive into the empty cradle and be alive.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
Number Tale - One
1987
mixed media
20" x 16" x 5 1/9“

Born into Blue -- This is the concept of number 1 being bigger that number 2. The box tells the story of a big brother and his place in the family as number 1 in terms of a jealous little sister who is number 2.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes Mixed Media Hanging Box
Number Tale - Two
1987
Mixed Media Hanging Box
20" x 16" x 5"

Two is Alone -- This box is the story of a child whose mother is one of a twin and the longing the child feels to be as much loved as her mother's twin. Number 2 seems like a little girl being aware of her separateness for the first time.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
A Box for Ethan, Age 5
1984
mixed media
9 1/2" diameter x 4 1/2" (round)

Five years old, golden haired, reed slim, brimming with vitality yet a gentle wonderer with a full blown sense of whimsy - to be treasured as was the son who became his father.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
A Box for Grace, The Director
1983
mixed media
11 1/4" diameter x 6 1/4" (round)

A charming rarity, an artist in her own right who has realized the gift of connecting with and orchestrating the changing moods and complexities of "grouped artists". She challenges and is so challenged. Thus, her studio awaits her.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
A Box for Katelyn (In Celebration of her birth - March 12, 1982
1983
mixed media
7" Diameter x 2 3/4" (oval)
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
J.W.K.'s Box (After Boyhood)
1984
mixed media
17 1/4" x 13 1/2" x 6 1/2"

Protector, provider, father, commuter, dreamer, planner, sometime competitor, would-be traveler, adviser, thoughtful believer in the American dream. A stable man, always ambitious but ambivalent about his ambition, for whom nuance is all. An indigenous American gentleman.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
My Father's Box (Born February 1, 1898 - Died August 20, 1984)
1983
mixed media
3 1/4" x 10 7/8" x 10 7/8"

A simple strong man whose history and heritage were the Navy, and who in later life reveled in land which touched the sea that he had sailed upon. An inveterate putterer and gardener, he filled barns with mysterious junk and the earth with glorious gardens, yet always with an eye seaward.
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
Bob Ramsey's Home Box
c. 1980s
mixed media
8" x 8" x 3"
Constance Kiermaier Boxes mixed media
Lucy Sallick's Box
c. 1980s
mixed media
6" x 7.75" x 1.5"