Stamp of nature : MFA Thesis - Ceramics

Abstract

The intent of this body of work began as a way to explore processes of making and to incorporate them with equal reverence and sensitivity to material into the making of functionally situated ceramic objects that play on tensions between consumption, individuality, leisure, and luxury on the one hand and community, production, and labor on the other. This work is intended to celebrate and explore these oft-contrasted methods of production in conjunction with each other and to synthesize them under a highlighted sense of intimacy and responsiveness in the treatment of material. Appropriated forms that reference the institutional and the organic blend. In making these pieces, I explored my attitudes towards different methods of production as they related to my position as a maker in the field of ceramics. By focusing on a responsive and intuitive relationship with the materials and tools involved in the process, this work questions myths of intention, function, and the nature of making. The communal elements and indicators of pottery are used to enact small vignettes of confrontation, reconciliation, and connectivity, symbolizing the individual’s fluid relationship with community.