"Threshold" - Contemporary Mixed Media Head Sculpture | Needles & Beads Art
Threshold is a powerful new addition to the ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain. This sculptural head of a woman, constructed from thousands of sharp needles and pearl beads, captures the paradox of medical hyperesthesia—a condition marked by extreme sensitivity to touch, temperature, or sensation, commonly experienced by those living with Lyme disease.
For the artist, ordinary physical contact can trigger overwhelming pain. In Threshold, this invisible neurological reality is made visible. The needles evoke the relentless, stabbing intensity of hyper-awareness, while the pearls signal fragility, vulnerability, and the complex beauty embedded in survival.
This sculpture is not only a portrait of a body in conflict, but a tactile and visual translation of the unseen. Like others in the Giving Shape to Pain series, Threshold exists at the intersection of advocacy and embodiment. It challenges viewers to look beyond surface and aesthetics—to witness the inner terrain of chronic illness.
By externalizing the internal, Threshold becomes a map of sensation, a site of resistance, and an invitation to deeper empathy.
Medium: Needles, pearl beads, acrylic paint, foam, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Signed original | Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain
Threshold is a powerful new addition to the ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain. This sculptural head of a woman, constructed from thousands of sharp needles and pearl beads, captures the paradox of medical hyperesthesia—a condition marked by extreme sensitivity to touch, temperature, or sensation, commonly experienced by those living with Lyme disease.
For the artist, ordinary physical contact can trigger overwhelming pain. In Threshold, this invisible neurological reality is made visible. The needles evoke the relentless, stabbing intensity of hyper-awareness, while the pearls signal fragility, vulnerability, and the complex beauty embedded in survival.
This sculpture is not only a portrait of a body in conflict, but a tactile and visual translation of the unseen. Like others in the Giving Shape to Pain series, Threshold exists at the intersection of advocacy and embodiment. It challenges viewers to look beyond surface and aesthetics—to witness the inner terrain of chronic illness.
By externalizing the internal, Threshold becomes a map of sensation, a site of resistance, and an invitation to deeper empathy.
Medium: Needles, pearl beads, acrylic paint, foam, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Signed original | Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain
Threshold is a powerful new addition to the ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain. This sculptural head of a woman, constructed from thousands of sharp needles and pearl beads, captures the paradox of medical hyperesthesia—a condition marked by extreme sensitivity to touch, temperature, or sensation, commonly experienced by those living with Lyme disease.
For the artist, ordinary physical contact can trigger overwhelming pain. In Threshold, this invisible neurological reality is made visible. The needles evoke the relentless, stabbing intensity of hyper-awareness, while the pearls signal fragility, vulnerability, and the complex beauty embedded in survival.
This sculpture is not only a portrait of a body in conflict, but a tactile and visual translation of the unseen. Like others in the Giving Shape to Pain series, Threshold exists at the intersection of advocacy and embodiment. It challenges viewers to look beyond surface and aesthetics—to witness the inner terrain of chronic illness.
By externalizing the internal, Threshold becomes a map of sensation, a site of resistance, and an invitation to deeper empathy.
Medium: Needles, pearl beads, acrylic paint, foam, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Signed original | Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain
