With process as her only guide, Scriver is on a quest for direction, committing fully to the possibilities of her tools and materials in “Every Which Way.”

If life’s decisions were represented as arrows or, even more accurately, vectors with magnitude and direction, what would our life’s path look like? Would it all add up to a straight line? Or would it be like a murmuration, pulsing in beautiful mysterious coordination? A single starling cannot know the effect of her flying in intuitive coordination with those around her. I want my work to be like the starling’s—responding spontaneously in connection with my present conditions. 

So much gets in the way of this simple pursuit. We barely pay attention to our surroundings even in the act of navigation, turning our attention to devices that tell us when to turn and where. Moment by moment tragic news, politics, wars, social media influencers swirl around us and, subtly or not, affect our direction—like iron filings shifting in a magnetic field—and their influences feel as unavoidable as the pull of gravity. 

Arrows abound in the work, some like synchronized murmurations and others pointing wherever—like invisible forces that guide or misguide us on our path. In the studio, I am on a quest for direction—not the kind of direction that can be gleaned from following arrows along a trail, but the kind that is achieved by paying attention to where I have been and holding true to the unfolding of the path ahead. It is my hope that, in my commitment to this work, something true shines through.