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Full-Text Articles in Ceramic Arts
Processing Self, Ethan B. Mckellar
Processing Self, Ethan B. Mckellar
All Theses
Processing Self is a body of sculptural and utilitarian ceramic work that explores the intersection of the materiality of clay with the expression of grief and vulnerability. In this work I utilize the process of building unstable ceramic vessels and the communal action of wood firing to translate the experiences of grief and care into physical forms. As I build, I manipulate the clay to its limits, allowing it to falter under its own weight, and display the breakage and damage. By committing to support each vessel through its creation, I make a promise to persevere, echoing the commitment I …
Unloved Ecologies, Ellen Griffin
Unloved Ecologies, Ellen Griffin
All Theses
Unloved Ecologies is an exhibition of ceramic sculptures that stage encounters between human and nonhuman bodies. Through it, I investigate the intersections of queer identity and ecology to reevaluate what society often deems “unlovable.” By working with the language of Queer Ecology, I explore the tensions between protection and vulnerability, as well as between cultivated order and wild resistance. Ceramic sculpture is my mode for examining moments of transformation, repair, and growth, and natural processes function as metaphors for the ways external pressures shape individuals. My overall goal is to explore the ecological processes of change and examine how our …
Nepantla: The Space In-Between, Samantha Shamard
Nepantla: The Space In-Between, Samantha Shamard
All Theses
The word Nepantla is from the Mesoamerican Nahuatl language and is used by theorist Gloria Anzaldúa to describe a space of mixed, and borderland identity. Nepantla: the space in-between creates a physical manifestation of my experience as a mixed Latina woman raised in American suburban culture. This series is made up of ceramic objects on wall-mounted altars made of wood panels adorned with wallpaper and paint. The surfaces utilize visual references and color schemes from 90s girls’ bedrooms and Mexican pop-culture. Ceramic bones and cacti mounted onto the altar forms are all made through molded ceramic processes, which for me …
Damned Ol' Dirt, Molly Morningglory
Damned Ol' Dirt, Molly Morningglory
All Theses
damned ol’ dirt centers mindfulness and embodiment practices to foster relationships with the self, each other, and the land. These relationships intend to collectively imagine and then build an emotionally and environmentally sustainable and joyful future. My practice foregrounds clay with digital video, photography, and fabric dyeing, recording the imprint of performance. I use my hereditary understanding of clay and fibers, a trained attunement to the natural world, and my background of performance in craft (via demonstration of tactile techniques) to transfer knowledge and skill to the viewer. Through the creation of tableaus and documents of rituals based in materiality, …