Milagros from Santa Fe, New Mexico, various artists
0 leg – left, porcelain, 17’ x 5” x 2”, 2005
Outbreak, 2005. Glazed porcelain, 92” x 48” x 5”, 2005
Persistence of bicycles, terra cotta, 24” x 25” x 5”, 2005
Against the stream, terra cotta, 34” x 44” x 11”, 2005
0 arm – m, arm – f, porcelain with terra sigilatta, 7” x 14” x 8”, 2005
1 arm – m, arm – f, stoneware with terra sigilatta, “8 x 11” x 6”, 2005
6 knee – m, knee – f, stoneware with terra sigilatta, “12 x 12” x 8”, 2005
8 arm – m, platonic voids, glazed terra cotta, 10” x 12” x 6”, 2005
10 hip – m, shoulder – m, stoneware with terra sigilatta, 16” x 17’ x 12”, 2005
10 hip – m, shoulder – m, detail, 2005
15 hip – m, arm – m, platonic void, glazed terra cotta, 14” x 10” x 10”, 2005
17 hip – m, pelvis – m, hip – f, leg – f, stoneware with terra sigilatta, “15 x 14” x 14”, 2005
18 hip – f, knee – m, porcelain with terra sigilatta, 14” x 12” x 15”, 2005
27 Bumper – 1, knee – m, glazed terra cotta, 14” x 12” x 16”, 2005
Tangible Shadows: Intersections is a series of sculptural ceramic vessels. The work is both a testament to, and documentation of, a process that was inspired by the idea of Milagros, the votive offerings found in Hispanic folk culture. The medium used in this exploration is drape moulded ceramic. The choice of forms used in Tangible Shadows followed a journey that began with human anatomy and ended with the automobile body. Bicycle seats and motorcycle tanks served as a transition between the two forms.
The forms intersect one another in an impossible and surgical manner. Intersections range in subtlety from the obvious and tangible crossings of human and machine form to the scalar sensibilities of the artist and architect. Diffusion of the familiar is created by draping the forms in fluid clay sheets. This dampening of identity is further advanced through the use of negative casting thus creating the shadow of the object and offering the audience an unorthodox perspective on what was once easily recognizable. All of this contributes to the need for a longer examination that slowly reveals the familiar in the abstract and unknown. This process of discovery is yet another form of intersection between memory and cognition of the viewer.
