The title of this series, Spiritual Furniture, refers to Brucker’s efforts to bring her psychic house to order. The furniture piece, Ironing Things Out, has kinetic components (the upper teeth move) and the molds of her father’s teeth were bronze cast and combined with her great-grandmother’s ironing board. The work alludes to the responsibilities that one should complete before dying; it is therefore an opportunity to reflect on death.

Safety Net (below) plays with the idea of relationships and personal protection. The sensation of falling from heights and falling in love is conflated and the fragile hair nets (saved from my first job at a hamburger stand) help limit the distance and impact of the fall.

Photo credits: Brian Forrest (Spiritual Furniture); Robert Wedemeyer (House of Hagar); Boston Public Library (Piano Bench).

PIANO BENCH

Commissioned by Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the U.S. Senate, Piano Bench for Condoleezza Rice was in the 2019-2021 exhibition, A Seat at the Table. Brucker was assigned to create a tribute to Condoleezza Rice, who was the first black woman to be appointed national security advisor and the first black female U.S. Secretary of State.


Completed in collaboration with historic glasswork studio, Judson Studios, the piece honors Dr. Rice for her discipline and devotion as a classically-trained pianist. The open bench contains a stained and painted glass portrait of Dr. Rice as a young girl in front of the White House. Inside the bench a string of pearls, a library card with biographical information about Dr. Rice, and a set of piano keys inscribed with Civil Rights Movement key moments highlight the racial tensions of Dr. Rice’s Birmingham childhood. Etched quotes on hand-mirrors encourage viewers to reflect on civic leadership.


HOUSE OF HAGAR

Hagar’s Hope Chest was an early work from the series of works, House of Hagar. The series was constructed out of a desire to visualize the powerfully haunting figure of Hagar found in the Abraham narrative of the Hebrew Bible. As a character, Hagar is a tragic figure who challenges our notions of justice and faith. Her oppression is all too familiar, as she represents those whose power and selfhood are usurped because of nationality, class, race and gender. 

​This work represents the hope that God promises Hagar through the birth of Ishmael (meaning "God Hears"). However, once again, suffering undercuts hope as Hagar ends up returning to the oppressive patriarch Abraham. It is Abraham, not Hagar, who names Ishmael as the narrative unfolds around the male figures in the story. Hagar's Hope Chest was viewed through the timepiece/eye hole at the top of the chest where a tiny video depicting a baby is visible.