Recent pictures of my work

Some pieces for the exhibition. 

Other pieces of my work with decals, that include poetry lines from Emily Dickinson.

"I rise because the sun shines, and sleep has done with me,and I brush my hair and dress me and wonder what I am and who has made me so"

My work

Here are some pieces that I've been working on this semester. Since my last update on my work my ideas have changed quite a bit. I suppose at that time I was still experimenting and playing around with ideas and through that it lead me to become more interested in hand building, quite the contrast. In my work from first semester there was a sense of collapse to the forms, from fallen thrown pieces to crumpled slip pieces and from that I began to look at society and the fall in that area, the fall of the "Boom" and the collapse of  our economy which has had it's own effects on everyone. I've been looking into this whole concept of the recession which has lead to a lot of unemployment,emigration, depression and even suicide. I've researched an interesting French philosopher/ social psychologist Emile Durkheim who's theory from years of research was that "suicide is not an individual act, as was previously thought by leading scientists of his time.  Accordingly, his theory was that suicide was a social fact that was tied to social structures.  He defined suicide as a social fact because it was something that happened driven by social causes, however hidden they were". 
 I found this quite interesting and decided to built pieces based around that idea.I also am making a collage highlighting some of the realities in Ireland today taken from newspaper clippings, prints etc.

*Better images to follow!!!

Tara Polansky

"Much of my work investigates the way memory functions, defining memory loosely to
include events that we do not experience firsthand and people who we have never met but
who are familiar to us". Laura Polansky is an interesting artist who works around the idea of memory and evoking the memory of her viewers. I think that this artist would appeal to Laura and Steve because they are both making work based on their own past memories of their childhood.

"It didnt work", Brick, 5.5' x 5.5', 2012.

You can even see how her work pictured above is very similar to Steve's as she also uses industrial brick. She also experiments with a range of other ceramic materials like stoneware, mid-range and high-fire porcelain. Tara also works a lot with decals an aspect I know Laura is exploring, she uses them quite cleverly creating a nostalgic mood to the pieces.

"The Shadow", Translucent porclain, 7.5' across, 2008.

My statement

Making things with my hands is a very core part of who I am. I am motivated by a sense of discovery that develops as I investigate materials and there possibilities. Elements of manipulation, tenderness, and playfulness are extremely important to my work. I am attracted to the interesting lines and contours pulling and contracting to me they emanate beauty and fragility. I strive for more than ordinary I aspire to explore and exploit the clay and its qualities.

I like the tension created from the crumpled layered and distortedness of the pieces. I am intrigued by the way shifting light in a room affects how one perceives these forms.

Edith Garcia

"My work is influenced by everyday life as well as by growing up in a society that uses the hybridization of humans throughout its history". I think that Edith Garcia's work would be relevant to Amy's work as she in her own sense is making her own "Contemporary monsters" with her human and animal forms like Edith's.
 
"For me my work is a way to record my unique individual experiences throughout my lifetime, depicting everyday occurrences and past experiences, addressing contemporaneous issues specific to the human condition". Amy might like this quote as she likes to express her quirky personality through her work, for some of her figures are quite humorous a reflection of her personality which is what Garcia also represents in her work in many ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contemporary Monsters exhibition, 2009.

Fearless, 2006.

Scott Rench



Interactive play.



Destiny, a look at my life, 1996.

Everyone wants it.



Searching.



I think this artist’s work has very little similarity to the work of my peers as it is very rich in colour, imagery and text. Rench does not give an artist’s statement but you can see that his work is heavily linked to life’s experiences and familiarities and it almost gives off a web/internet connection feel to it.

Lindsay Pichaske

What separates human from animal? What borders exist between the real and the imagined, the beautiful and the repugnant, the living and dying, the creator and the made?

 

 



Low-fire ceramic, artifical flower petals, oil paint, milk paint, 2010.

Human hair, thread, sweing needles, 2010.

Low-fire ceramic, human hair, oil paint, 2010.

I think that Lindsay Pichaske’s work is hugely relative to the work Dominic and Amy are creating. In Dominic’s case her words “What separates Human from animal” reminded me of the inequality of the whales and the respect they are ignored of and when she questions “What borders exist between the real and the imagined, the beautiful and the repugnant, the living and dying, the creator and the made” I am reminded of Amy’s work because she has broken this boundary of human and animal, of real and imaginary in her pieces of animal/human form.