Sculptor Lydia Musco on Finding Clarity in Your Studio Practice

Lydia Jenkins Musco's work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout the United States. With an MFA from Boston University and a BA from Bennington College, her artistic practice has been shaped by international experiences, including stone carving studies in Italy and participation in art symposia in Norway, South Korea, and China. Musco's work has earned recognition through awards including two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and an Edward F. Albee Residency Fellowship, among others. Her work has been featured in exhibitions including the 43rd Annual Peace Exhibition in Nagasaki, Japan, the International Print Center in New York, and numerous outdoor sculpture exhibitions nationwide. Musco has contributed to the art community through academic roles, serving as a lecturer in sculpture at Boston University and a visiting assistant professor at Davidson College. Musco lives and works in Royalston, Massachusetts. "I interpret the world into a vocabulary of objects with weight and mass that can be viewed from all sides, that help me explore the connections and intersections of elements. Basic construction materials like concrete and wood — ubiquitous and often used in humble ways we take for granted — offer me a path to honesty through their fundamental simplicity. Two groups of work are currently in progress, Logarithmus and Unconformity. The Unconformity series began as an investigation into perception and place, a reflection of the landscape of the woodlands of Massachusetts. In geology, an unconformity refers to a break in time, a boundary between rocks caused by erosion or a pause in sediment accumulation. Investigating the environmental changes accumulating in the landscape over the course of a year, each sculpture is an unconformity, a break in time, capturing a moment, holding it still, and documenting the changing color, light, and forms of a single place. The Logarithmus series explores navigation, inspired by the Chip Log, an early nautical instrument for gauging speed. The form of these sculptures is derived from the geometry of a circle's quadrant. The resulting shape, somewhat vulnerable due to its accessible interior, becomes an exploration of pathfinding, with all its inherent hope and uncertainties. With the guarantee of detours and missteps, my goal is to keep moving forward with curiosity. These objects are built from the ground up, echoing the process of memory or landscape formation. Like geological strata, each layer both influences and is influenced by those adjacent to it, above and below, side by side. Bound by gravity only, they are built in movable sections that can be dismantled and reconstructed. Each reassembly tells a new story, revealing how intention and environment reshape our understanding, making the familiar strange and the static dynamic." LINKS: lydiamusco.com @lydia_j_musco I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram