‘What Remains…’ 
Mixed media installation
2002
Dimensions variable

Details…
• 12 child-sized desks and chairs – 5 are ‘normal’, 7 are altered
• Books and pencils encrusted with marble dust and white sand
• Fluorescent lighting creates directional lighting from the ‘blackboard’
• White erasers and chalk rest on a ‘blackboard’ tray

Notes
Twelve desks and chairs (of the original twenty) were installed at Winsmith Mills, Norwood, MA. The old wood floors of this 18th Century mill lent a reality of my experience of a 1960’s second grade classroom. 

Due to its size and complexity, ‘What Remains…’ can be reconfigured to respond to any given space. 11 desks and chairs are ‘normal’ and 9 have been altered to make visible the emotional state of the child that might have sat there. Encrusted books and pencils are carefully placed throughout. Missing here are the directional fluorescent lighting coming from the ‘blackboard’ area and the school pictures (marble dust on vellum) that would be on the walls. But as the artist, I welcome the chance to make the piece integral to a new space. 

Julie Levesque