Descension is a collection of aerial views of clouds downloaded from the  Internet and transferred onto sand bags forming a circle or barricade. Sand  bags are tools for protection and isolation. They are used in war and natural  disasters by the military and civilians. It is an inversion of the art historical  depictions of the Assumption of Mary into heaven ("...having completed the

course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." -  Pope Pius XII, 1950.) It is a perspective from a flying carpet... hovering and  giving an overview. The Internet is also a way of traveling to new lands and  experiencing without the bodily senses.

Rebecca Ripple (b. Huntington, New York) received her MFA from Yale University  in 1995. She has exhibited throughout the United States and in Italy, at venues  including Klowden Mann, the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Kristin Engle Gallery,  Rosamund Felsen Gallery and the Brewery Project in Los Angeles, the Armory  Center for the Arts in Pasadena, Tilt Gallery and Upfor Gallery in Portland, and  many others. Her work has been featured in Sculpture Magazine, and reviewed  in LA Weekly, Huffington Post, ArtScene, Artillery, Chicago Tribune, and American  Craft. Ripple has attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture,  received multiple awards including a C.O.L.A. (City of Los Angeles Individual  Fellowship) and a Nathan O. Freedman Endowment for Exceptional Creative  Accomplishments Award. Her work has been featured in Sculpture magazine and  reviewed in the Huffington Post, ArtScene, Artillery, and American Craft. She is  the Artist in Residence of Sculpture at Cranbrook Academy of Art.