Minich’s boat assemblages are symbolic works invested with her meditations on human existence. A form both commanding and fragile, the boat is a visual metaphor for the powers that keep humanity afloat. Here the structure is an animal bone, perhaps part of a shoulder or hip, set into the wooden surface. The dark sea and orange sky are flat and slightly ominous. A white figure stands on the rear of the vessel, confronting a rose-colored figure standing on a smaller boat of its own.
Minich was born in Philadelphia, and attended the University of Miami and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Since the 1960s, she has created drawings on paper, carved wooden sculptures, and three-dimensional paintings inlaid with found objects and text, all of which explore themes including sexual desire, violence, spirituality, place, parenthood, and family. Minich lives and works in Philadelphia, and her work has been exhibited broadly throughout her long career.
