Open from May 1-31, 2009 at Red Star Studios Ceramic Center, KCAI: Then and Now represented numerous KCAI graduates who helped shape the changing world of contemporary ceramics.
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Statement for work presented in KCAI: Then and Now
Architectural tile and terra cotta offer me a visual world to explore the language of ornament. Motifs of interest include plants and animals, geometric patterns, and shields. They are a connection between our domesticated environments and the enigmatic, unpredictable aspects of nature. For centuries these motifs have been recycled and reinterpreted from the viewpoints of many cultures. My work for several years has revisited the forms and knowledge of this language. I use the traditions of embellishment on buildings to interpret human culture and the natural world.
I use clay for its ability to create mass and bas-relief, for its substance and warmth, and its relationship to human history and shelter. Earthen material from the landscape is also our habitat and decor. For my ceramic surfaces, I want qualities of light reflectivity and transmission, hue, saturation, and texture. Some ways to describe these traits include words like shiny, wet, satin, sugar, crystal, matte, transparent, translucent, opaque, fluid, fat, and crawl. I’m interested in how these features affect perception of surface – how light and texture affect colors’ responses to each other. I’m also curious how they may activate our desire to touch them.
The works presented in KCAI: Then and Now are direct offshoots of a recent series titled Landscape. Landscape is a four-part artwork made of glazed mosaics whose tessellating patterns are reminiscent of multiple sources in the world – honeycombs, turtle shells, diagrams of DNA molecules, and architectural tiled pavements and roofs. These compositions of tile are both aerial and cellular.
The tabletop pieces displayed here offer a moment of concentrated texture and color in ceramic that is liquid and solid.
