For over 20 years I was drawn
to the vessel as an abstraction and metaphor for containment. I took
ideas from traditional functional pots and stretched them into
architectural and later, more organic sculptural forms.
In 2002 I began the Outurn
series by moving the work from the horizontal to the vertical plane. I
abandoned my signature soda ash glazes for unglazed white stoneware
which enabled me to address more formal sculptural ideas.
The Go series in 2005
represented a further letting go. By creating more than one orifice and
painting the interior of each piece I focused on openness rather than
containment allowing the insides to spill out as reflected color. The
subsequent Go Pillows, Tumbles and Abouturns
continued my explorations of form, color, and reflected color.
Staying true to my clay roots
of vessel-making, my 2008 body of work has evolved from a simple bowl
form. By deconstructing and reconfiguring, by distorting and
manipulating, by combining two forms to make one, by grouping multiple
pieces to create one, and by incorporating new materials—fabric,
cardboard, wire mesh, and sea salt—I have tapped a new well of
sculptural possibilities. The work has been the leader, and I have
followed: paying careful attention to its needs and coaxing it, by small
revolutions, into being.
Anne Hirondelle
September 2008