Sculpture
I have pursued my affinity for 3D art in a variety of media outside of ceramics, including metal, wood, fabric, and acrylic. Merging different media in one sculptural form allows me to relate different materials to create a cohesive identity, often prompting me to clash man-made with nature. Some of my work echoes my ceramic work, drawing inspiration from nature and the ocean and attempting to capture natural movements. For me, the process of sculpting, including texture, weight, and form, is just as important as the resulting piece. Additionally, I am able to use my engineering background to work with a wide range of materials skillfully to execute my concepts with greater depth and detail.
Driftwood, seashells, and cast blue resin. This piece was made from ‘found materials’ and creates a structured natural form that complements the artificial acrylic growth sprouting from the side of the piece. This is shot where this piece would live, washed up and tangled in sea weed and shells.
Ceramics, plasma cut steel, laser cut acrylic. This piece divides into three sections, as the divisions in the sand, sea, and sky suggest. The bottom ceramic pieces suggest a dark, colorless ocean floor. The middle sheets ripple in strong currents. The top acrylic ripples in gentle surface currents, capturing bright sunlight trickling down.
Free-form molded plaster, stretched white silk, warped balsa wood, nails. This piece came together from material exploration, focusing on the rigidity of the wood with the thin stretch of fabric. Both are also contrasted by the heavy yet organic forms of plaster. The construction process heavily informed the final product, with relationships between the wood framing, the stretched silk, and the plaster tentacles in relation to each other to accentuate their texture and material characteristics, inviting the viewer to run their hands across the silk and feel the bumps of the plaster.
Hand-built air-dry clay, black figure wire, white tule, hot glue. This is a more light-hearted piece working on capturing a more concrete form (contrasting my abstract forms above). A wire octopus wraps itself around its ‘treasures’, common trash made from clay. The irony in this piece is the careful, methodical construction of garbage to be an art object. The hollow octopus draws focus away from the physical form and instead focuses the viewer on the almost-suspended garbage.