My current body of work is an exploration of femininity in relation to issues of body image. It is a series of sculptures made to both celebrate feminine aesthetics and display the quieter intimacies we may use them to conceal. From across the room the objects draw you in with their color and pattern. It is up close that their substance is revealed.
They are hand sculpted ceramic objects covered in adornments, similar to the way we cover ourselves with makeup or clothing. I employ complex layering of colored slips, image transfers, slip trailing, and decals to make them objects of beauty. While these objects are beautiful, the extensive effort used to make them so, is apparent.
It is only by breaking through these decorative facades that a complexity is revealed. The innate purity and fragility of the unglazed porcelain lends itself to representing simple cell structures. These repeated delicate shapes are the hidden delicacies. They are the things about our bodies or our character that we try to conceal. They are now on display. Although less decorative, these objects represent a deeper beauty, the truths of what we are.
I use the decorative craft tradition of pattern making, floral imagery and feminine color palate to create unassuming objects of beauty. Then I challenge modern cultural assumptions about what beauty is opening them up, to reveal the internal struggle. The true beauty is in the detail. The true beauty is in the struggle, not only to exist, but to be accepted and then appreciated. Our true beauty is the things we must to come to love about ourselves.