Juliane's work

Hi everyone.

Hopefully I will be technologically astute and this post will go as it is supposed to. This work is fairly recent; I made it early summer while I was in TN. I am still trying to decipher it. I will include a few excerpts of my artist statement below, but I am really curious about people's reactions to the work WITHOUT reading my statement right away. Are there other visual clues that the work is giving you that aren't evident in my statement? Are there aspects of my work that really seem to mesh/not mesh intuitively with what I write?

My ceramic sculpture consists of a series of multiple ceramic forms that are made with a food reference in mind, be it serving vessels or clay forms that resemble baked goods, candy, dumplings, or pasta. I enjoy the meditative process of throwing or handbuilding the same form over and over. Although it takes a lot of time to create a mass of handmade “food” items out of clay, I am attracted to the nuances and rhythm of these objects as they repeat and begin to energize the space around them. Because my clay food items are made of porcelain and are rather small in size, they remind the viewer of a sweet delicacy or treat. I also find the labor involved in handmade work lends a certain preciousness to each object as no two objects are the same.
Multiples and mass production can refer to consumption. A consumer’s choice in selecting one or several items from a multitude becomes of particular interest to me. How does an individual choose a particular item over others? I consider food, its display, and consumption as a metaphor for human sexuality, taste, and appetite. One might be fortunate to make the right choice in selecting a partner, or one might be tempted to choose based on the appearance of a person only to discover that the inside is a disappointment. In my work, repeated “food” objects signify the multiplicity of choices we have in selecting one from a whole. Repetition of clay forms also alludes to the reproductive nature of our species...

bonjour-

the slides are obviously not top quality but the house is 65% in boxes. these new pots are my attempt to focus on how the handle relates to spout, the spout to the body, the handle to the body etc. i wanted to continue straight lines, bulbous shapes, and quick decision, not cleaning up connection points but leaving them honest and obvious. the large jar (as well as teapots) will have inset lids. the jar is a new idea, simple shape, to be a surface for very dry direct painting.

Mel's Late Summer Post II

Here is a new version of my artist statement, based on writing exercises and megan's super helpful comment.

My current studio work is a response to my search for a connection to a new landscape and environment. In the past, I made pots from local clay and fired mainly with wood and those pots were descriptive of the land from which they came. A rocky Maine coastline, a tangled California mountainside, and a bald North Carolina hill bore natural, earth-toned pots, with deep, yet simple surfaces. Here in central Pennsylvania, the earth in my small, square garden is tinged red. Instead of raw, rough clay dug from the ground, smooth clay with a uniform consistency feels more natural in a town where the commercial has overcome the local and the landscape is less dramatic and wild. I am interested in finding tension between the more austere, rough, physical pots that I have studied in the past and the intimacy of the pinching and line quality I am developing now.

Drawing on my faith in the innate intelligence of the motion of making, I allow momentum and intuition to guide my studio practice. My work is a balance between this action and instinct, with room for daydreams. Confident and lively movements are juxtaposed with affectionate attention to surface pattern and detail. The imagery reflects my current thoughts on the domestication of life, animals, and land. Characters are whimsical, but sometimes sad or lonely. Animals might be caged or freed by the form, and the surface landscape speaks both of cultivated earth and open horizons. Throughout the entire pot, I seek to balance comfort with adventure, structure with romance and possibility.