I Thought the Future Would be Cooler
Date
2022-05
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
I am revitalizing the metaphoric potential of the vessel form by utilizing
technologies of clay 3D printing and rapid prototyping, to create bright cyborgian
pottery objects that acknowledge early ceramic traditions while smiling towards the
future. Working with tools that are digitally forward, I am deeply engaged in exploring
the tension between past and future, probing the synergy between handmade arts and
technology. Maintaining a sense of tactility, intimacy and sensitivity often achieved in
traditional handworks is paramount to my practice. I lovingly dress these familiar forms
with hand painted geometric patterns or hazy gradients and affix embellishments all
over their surface to bring my hand back into the process. This interplay of the machine
and my hands results in creation of objects that resist definition.
My vessels are future-forms that are designed to hold ideas or memories of the
past. Influenced by the aesthetics of the earliest digital spaces I inhabited and the
nostalgia I feel for those virtual worlds conditioned me to become a “world builder”.
This concept is reflected in the microcosms constructed within the vessels as they stand
in for the scale models of imaginary architecture, maquettes for future furniture, rolling
strata of rice terraces and landscape paintings.
Description
Thesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in the School of Art and Design at the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
Type
Thesis
item.page.format
Keywords
MFA thesis, Ceramic sculpture, Three-dimensional printing, Glazes