My sculptures seek a balance between abstract form and human identity, between physical body and spiritual presence.  They draw upon a legacy of images ancient and modern, combining personal experience with broader universal metaphor. Each work begins with a gesture or pose that carries emotional and symbolic resonance.  The shape is then simplified and refined to hold a multitude of meanings and associations.

Individually, the figures present a strong "presence"--sensual, centered, self-sufficient--while together they interact spatially and with their environment in social and psychological relationship.  By synthesizing cultural, historical, and personal imagery, my work offers a vision grounded in the past that at the same time reveals the tensions and contradictions of the modern world.

While generally life-size, the sculptures exist also in miniature or monumental scale.  They are created in a variety of materials, including wood, metal, clay, and cement, and are often subtly colored.  Recent sculptures have also used mirrors, water, and sparkling wire mesh to activate the surface and create transparencies and internal radiance.  Public sculptures, such as those commissioned by the New York City Parks Department and Crittenden Middle School, rely on creative problem-solving to balance the needs of imagery, location, security, and the desires of a specific community.  Private commissions have ranged from fountains, to portraits, to wall reliefs and site-specific installations.

An NEA Creativity Grant for a site-specific installation entitled, "Copper Beech: People's Trust" was commissioned by the Westchester Arts Council. The Installation consists of a monumental copper tree rising from a square-framed pool, whose structure will replicate the architectural elements of the Grand Banking Room. Ms. Haviland's installation (on view at The Arts Exchange from October 24 through November 29, 2003) unites two symbolic elements found in the city of White Plains: the famed copper beech tree on Quarropas Street, planted in 1900 and saved from destruction during the urban renewal period of the 1960s, and the architecture of the renovated Arts Exchange, which was built in 1929 as the People's National Bank and Trust.