Susan MacPhail

17 Clan Cast

This sculpture features bronze casts of the artist’s family members in a state of quiet rest, using the enduring weight of metal to transform personal portraits into a lasting record of connection and shared history.

“"This work brings together six bronze faces, myself, my husband, and our four adult children, cast from life and held in a quiet, collective stillness. Each face bears closed eyes and they suggest introspection, rest, and a shared interior world. My own face is the only one where I attempted to form eyes in the original plaster, an intuitive decision that remained through the bronze pour, subtly shifting its presence among the others. The simplified, solemn forms echo the enduring gaze of ancient sculptural traditions, lending the faces a sense of permanence and gravity. These works carry deep personal weight: they are not only portraits, but records of connection, time, and care. Cast in bronze, they hold the possibility of lasting for five thousand years, far beyond our mortal lives. Quiet witnesses to a beloved family, preserved.”