Page 32 - The Woven Tale Press Vol. IV #7

“Recently, I have been contemplating the value of labor with all its unseen physicality, and the way the human condition revolves around the many different facets of labor. In my work I am making the argument that clay
does not have to result in a ceramic product or object. Rather, I use clay more broadly, as a medium for conceptual work, by taking this traditional material and rebelling against its assumed limitations and standard uses.
My broad use of clay involves my staging and performing bizarre rituals and using the clay to record the actions. These rituals include themes of memory, loss and impermanence. The majority of my work hinges on experimental forms and ways of deconstructing my own creative process. The scope of my recent work is broad, encompassing such diverse projects as spreading white clay on the torso of a don- key at sunset and filming a man in a business suit arranging hay bales on a farm. These unpredictable and curious experiments of spontaneous and simple acts have pushed me to keep pursuing my art practice in new ways.
Currently, I construe clay with digital media. My work revolves around intricacies of personal relationships and what happens while experiencing those relationships. Utilizing multiple mediums including clay, video, installation, and ceramic multiples, I construct environments, events or sculptures in an effort to examine my own rela- tionships or alternately to encourage connectivity among members of my audience. These installations are only loosely planned, leaving the outcome uncertain and thus taking the form of an experiment for
either myself or others.
My work also expresses my frustra- tions with the limitations of ceram- ics and more broadly the human condition. I use clay as a highlighter to draw the lines that connect us as people sharing the same time and space, both figuratively and literally, to engage the social environment around me. I don’t aim to convey
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a specific singular message with a work, however I do aim to call to mind the complex reality of social relationships.”
(detail)
kathryn baczEski