Q: What draws you to ceramics and the Gardiner Museum?
My first experience at the Gardiner Museum was in 2020 to see the group exhibition RAW with Magdolene Dykstra, Azza El Siddique, and Linda Swanson. I loved the show and through it, I was introduced to Azza El Siddique’s work which I’ve admired now for some time. While I don’t work with clay in my artistic practice, I’ve regularly visited since then, as I’ve always found ceramics fascinating in the way the multifaceted tradition tends to straddle the distinction between craft and fine art.
Alongside art history, I’m keenly interested in material culture; every object is a lesson in how the manner in which something is constructed informs the way in which it generates meaning. I’ve found the Gardiner’s collection to be a ceaselessly useful resource for my practice in sculpture to think through ideas like material transformation & metamorphosis, the way culture is transmitted through everyday objects, and the conditions of said object’s display.
I’ve always returned to Peter Voulkos’ Rocking Pot (1956), as not only an astounding piece but an exemplary case of the capacity for the medium to ask questions about beauty and use-value. I first discovered the work while reading Helen Molesworth's Leap Before you look: Black Mountain College 1933–1957 in 2023, and have been captivated ever since.
Peter Voulkos, Rocking Pot, 1956, stoneware with colemanite wash,
13 5⁄8 x 21x 17 1⁄2 in. (34.6 x 53.3 x 44.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the
James Renwick Alliance and various donors and museum purchase, 1983.79