In 2019, during her residency at Fortress Studios in Detroit, Michigan, Egnater utilized the CNC plasma cutter and gas forge to begin a series of monuments completed in 2020. Influenced by James E. Young’s The Stages of Memory: Reflections on Memorial Art, Loss, and the Spaces Between, the work examines the visual language of memorials and questions which formal elements define them. By stripping away names and sites, the series asks what remains of a monument and what constitutes a memorial in their absence.

Monument Series / 2020 / mild steel, red enamel, red dye patina

Monument Series / 2020 / mild steel, cast aluminum cloth, blue dye patina

Monument Series / 2020 / mild steel, forged wreath, titanium dioxide

In 2018, Egnater was in residence at Hamtramck Disneyland, a site-specific folk art installation created by Dmytro Szylak. While living on site, she captured a series of patterns and colors drawn from across the installation. As the environment has continually shifted through Szylak’s own repainting and community-led restoration days, its color scheme remains in flux. These steel-fabricated tiles function as an archive, capturing a moment within an ever-evolving space.

Toward the end of her residency, Egnater hosted a “How to Make a Whirligig” workshop as part of the Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival. The workshop invited community members to tour the installation and the house on site; while creating objects that referenced Szylak’s kinetic sculptures.

Tiles / 2018 / mild steel / 18” X 18”

Documentation of selected Tiles

Documentation of the Hamtramck Neighborhood Arts Festival