Trying My Best
Emily Bennett (Terre Haute, IN)
14” x 14” x 36”
City Hall, 203 Vigo Street
Painted and Distressed Steel- See More from this Artist
Sculpture Description
When life gives us uneasy and tense circumstances, we can take comfort in the fact that we will be stronger and beautiful things are still to come. Meant to evoke a feeling of instability and structrual tension, these teetering house-shaped forms create a sense of upward motion. Artist Emily makes a node to her past through these forms made out of distressed, painted steel.
Artist's Statement
Trying My Best is an off-kilter stack of small house forms, each representing a place the artist has called home. Weathered, worn, and in some cases broken, these houses embody moments of both hardship and resilience. Together, they form a precarious yet enduring structure—a testament to finding beauty in what remains, and strength in what survives.
Engagement Exercise
Grade Level: 3–6
Project Title: Balancing Act
Objective: Explore balance, instability, and storytelling through sculptural form.
Activity: Students create small stacked sculptures using cardboard, foam blocks, or found materials. Each level represents a “place” or important moment in their life. Encourage intentional tilting and asymmetry to explore precarity—a state of delicate balance. Discuss how uneven forms can still create strength and how structure can reflect personal experience.
Sign Info
Trying My Best presents an off-kilter vertical stack of small house-like forms, each tilted and balanced atop the next in a dynamic arrangement. The artist describes these structures as representations of places she has called home, “weathered, worn, and in some cases broken,” embodying experiences of hardship alongside resilience. The sculpture explores precarity—a state of instability or delicate balance—through its uneven geometry and visible signs of wear, transforming industrial material into a reflection on memory, movement, and endurance.
Though compact in scale, the work conveys a strong sense of upward striving. The layered forms suggest both vulnerability and persistence, inviting viewers to consider how personal histories accumulate over time, forming structures that remain imperfect yet enduring.
