Day 52: Safe inside

Ceramic Pendant

Vitamin Dish

heidisenseart.com

In my current work, I use clay, acrylics, and texture-building media to bring to life imagery and inspiration I see in the world, especially in nature, and relating it to my own inner landscape. I am exploring intuitive and experimental painting, and returning to my roots in ceramics to push my own boundaries of what I thought possible.

 

I come from a long line of Mennonite makers, from the traditions of quilting, sewing, cooking, and crafting commonly experienced on my grandparents’ farm, to my mother’s many creative endeavors, including painting, embroidery, culinary arts, pierce and cut lampshade making, and teaching. I am proud of this heritage and am interested in weaving this history into my own developing work.

During my under-graduate studies at Elizabethtown College, I minored in fine arts with a concentration in ceramics. My special interest in ceramics in those years was teapots, combining thrown and hand-built forms into a cohesive, sculptural piece within the structure of the teapot. Bringing this background to my current work, I use air-dry clay to sculpt aspects of the piece, sand and carve them further, attach them to the board or canvas, and incorporate them into the acrylic painting. I have also begun sculptural hand-built clay pieces that play on the form of a mask, with abstract composition. This developed as I worked on abstract acrylic exercises, feeling through the process of making the marks, shapes, and textures that wanted to emerge. Next, I plan to further my study of glazing techniques in order to build my repertoire of how to allow the expression of these pieces to come through.

 

I want to investigate the magic and connections that I see and feel in nature, life and human beauty through my work, and in doing so, express and heal myself and connect with others.

I have been a life-long artist, at times in the margins, as I pursued a career in occupational therapy and visual rehabilitation optometry. Over time, I plan to integrate my visual studies into my art, exploring the unique ways each of us see the world. I am interested in both the singular and the universal aspects of one’s point of view through a unique set of visual conditions, in the context of physical, emotional, and cultural individuality. For now, I revel in beginning again. I am exhilarated and humbled to be stepping back into this gorgeous and terrifying world of artistic creation.