Hartwick College reviews my art ever year to see if I am headed in the right direction and wether or not I should continue pursuing the studio art major. This spring I had my junior year review, and passed luckily, but I thought I would share the show with all of you who were not able to make it. Below you can see my are of the gallery (all the juniors shared the Foreman Gallery in Anderson Center for the Arts,) and luckily I got a good spot.
The idea of the show was to explore local poverty and food. After traveling so much abroad I wanted to make are about people who had less next door rather than around the world in attempt to make a larger impact on my audience. I created vessels to hold and celebrate food in additions with documenting scenes of poverty just down the street from the college. Many students rarely leave the campus and forget what rough shape upstate New York is in, so I decided to bring it to them.
The shard pile was an attempt to discuss our throw away culture in addition with the loss of tradition when the industry pulled out of upstate New York in the 90's and moved to China. Since 2008 low income housing has been one of the fastest growing housing sectors in the US, curiously the average rent in trailer parks has also been sharply rising since the housing bubble. I learned a lot about the economics of trailer parks in addition with the most common problems both structural and social.
I am fascinated with the trailer as vessel. They can be quite comfortable homes but also closed off containers to the rest of the world. Trailers have interested architecture and have clear indicators of which decade they were made in by their shape, style, and color.
I was really inspired by John Oles who visited Hartwick while I was in China last semester. I created these bowls with his style in mind. I believe they do an excellent job of creating an interesting visual form and something that feels good to hold and eat out of.
These coffeepots have a cone filter that pops off the top once you're done brewing. It was inspired by a series I saw on the internet and my love for this caffeinated drink.
This was a self portrait coffee set. It's a mismatched set created from my experiences and various aesthetics I have come across in my travel that I like. Here's a line from my artist statement that explains:
"I wish for my ceramics to be what they are, both tools for the celebration of food, each other, and what we have now– but also to be pieces of art formed by the careful practice of touch to make surface, color, and form meet my criteria of aesthetics, which are constructed by my experiences. Thus, I am creating an abstract self-portrait intended for others to physically interact with."
