Daily Diary, 1995–2007
3,175 sculptural self-portraits
Self-hardening clay, found object
Size varies for each piece; installed size variable

The Daily Diary project developed as Hutt’s response to a shift in routine from self-employed consulting and studio work to employment at a full-time office job as Director of Visual Arts for the City of Boston: the series of daily small-scale sculptural self-portrait figures was organically integrated into the rhythm of each day as her commitment to maintaining a daily art-making practice and a sense of identity as an artist.

In the course of her walks between her live/work space in Boston's South End and her office at Boston City Hall, approximately 2.5 miles round trip, Hutt took notice of her surroundings and picked up small discarded items she encountered along the way. Her routes varied: most often she walked along Washington Street, through the vibrant Chinatown neighborhood and Downtown Crossing shopping district to City Hall; other days her walk might include the Public Garden, the Boston Common, and other streets such as Tremont Street, Shawmut Avenue, and East Berkeley Street. Then upon rising each workday morning, she would model one self-portrait as a summary of the previous day from earthy brown self-hardening clay, inventively incorporating the found (and sometimes modified) items collected the previous day: perhaps a coffee filter as skirt, a tangle of wire as hair, or a glue bottle lid as a hat.

While made using simple means and humble materials, the figures — all bearing the mark of Hutt’s hands — convey a nuanced spectrum of human emotion and experience. Together they comprise a sort of three-dimensional journal of her life during that period.

The project ended when Hutt left her job and returned to independent consulting work. Over the course of 635 weeks, 5 days a week, making one figure for each day she accrued a total of 3,175 self-portraits. The date it was made is scratched into the back of each piece.