In her one-person show at the Painted Bride, local artist Shelley Spector continues to explore subjects from her own personal history, and furthers her mission to illuminate the universal human experience of community and the idiosyncrasies of people. Her sculptures, made from found and salvaged wood scraps, have long combined the formal simplicity and heartfelt emotional content of folk art with a more street-smart irony.

For this exhibition, Spector has created her first site-specific installation in the two-level main exhibition area of the Painted Bride, using five new series of sculptures that address themes of life and death, as well as the "legacies of people who have left a mark on our lives." Spector received a project grant from the Independence Foundation in 2004 and has spent more than a year carving and constructing the components of the installation.

The lower gallery holds four sculptural installations. In Minyon, Spector constructed a series of stacked and laminated wood figures with large glass jars for abdomens filled with assorted items, such as rocks, bottles, buttons, pipes and pencils, while in Trees of Life, she painted nine simple tree forms on the gallery wall and added cut-out wood leaves, each with a person's name. Audience participation is a new aspect of both pieces. Perhaps it's a logical outgrowth of Spector's belief in the value of community. She has deep ties to her family and friends — including many Philadelphia artists through her eponymous gallery on Bainbridge Street — and they have often appeared as subjects in her work. Viewers are invited to add a leaf to one of the trees in Trees of Life and to add an object to one of the open jars in Minyon, making the show itself a product of the memories and actions of all of the people who visit.

Also for the first time, Spector has begun to incorporate music into her work. She includes a soundtrack of klezmer music, which unites the separate sculptural pieces under an umbrella of sound, as well as adding a more distinctly ethnic theme to the show. One piece, A Flower in the Clouds (dedicated to the memory of Philadelphia artist Becky Westcott), is reinforced by the poignant sadness of the music. Here a large, sturdy wooden flower with a thick cluster of white petals like kernels on an ear of corn hangs on the wall surrounded by framed wood panels with white clouds and blue sky. I Am on Your Shoulders, a piece with a decidedly jolly outlook, connects with the celebration in the music. It's 16 feet tall and made up of 22 alternating male and female figures reaching from the lower gallery into the open airspace above. These standing figures are solidly built and stylized, made from rough, salvaged wood with a variety of colors and textures, and stacked like Legos into a figurative "endless column."

In the upper gallery, painted sky blue, Above the Clouds fills the space. Three motorized structures with radiating spokes hang from the ceiling. On each of these, six wood figures dangle in horizontal postures with their arms outstretched in front or pulled close to their bodies as they coast around in slow circles. The blocky Muppet-like people are all unique: dressed in pajamas or swimsuits, dresses, pants or high-heeled shoes. They're roughly carved from chunks of laminated wood scraps and painted in rich, solid colors. Like a stage set, cut-out wooden clouds on little paper-doll stands are placed on the floor below the circling figures. The piece tells a lighthearted story about life after death, reminding me of a baby's crib toy as well as a story you might tell to comfort a child.

In many of the pieces Spector has begun to employ the human body as a vessel or a unit of a larger construction. In this way the body is concretely functional, or as a certain children's TV show character would say, "really useful." When I asked her about this idea, Spector explained, "We are all containers. We are made up of components that are assembled to make us who we are and we connect with other people in our world." In addition, Spector believes that by using old chair legs, brooms and other wood scraps, she connects with the animism of the objects and "gives new life to old spirits." In this new body of work, Spector has begun to delve into the idea of rebirth and regeneration as the subject, not just the form, of her work — inviting us to participate in a dialogue with the idiosyncratic people and the "old spirits" in our own lives.

Shelley Spector: I am on Your Shoulders Through Oct. 22, Painted Bride Art Center, 230 Vine St., 215-925-9914

Shelley Spector's exhibition kicks off the 4-Sites visual arts series, a new two-year program of one-person shows at the Painted Bride, all site-specific installations by Philadelphia artists. Watch for upcoming shows by Paul Santoleri, Adam Parker Smith and Nami Yamamoto.