Artist's Statement

Medium Specificity Artist’s Statement

For this project I wanted to work in clay because it is probably one of my favorite things to do in the world, and I almost never do it. Every time I get the chance to sit down and sculpt I feel this incredible relaxation and sort of zen-like joy. I love when I can focus in on something, and manipulate it and tweak it to suit my desires. I think I have difficulty multi-tasking, but I am great at focusing all my attention and creative energy into a single channel. I love the feeling of transferring energy from my brain through my hands into a project.

I think that human hands are one of the most beautiful of God’s creations, and our ability to work precisely and creatively with our minds, through our hands is one of our defining characteristics as human beings. I have great respect for those who work with their hands, and I see parallels between the carpenter who fashions a piece of furniture with love, the computer programmer who uses his mind and hands to create intricate masterpieces, and the surgeon who delicately repairs structures of the human body. Hand and mind are a match made in heaven, literally.

I decided to work with clay for this project because I love it. I realized I love it because it’s such a primal medium. Making stuff out of mud with your hands is about as simple and human an art form as you can get. I decided to create a sculpture about the basic connection between hand and mind, and the joy I feel when I am using my hands to shape clay into something I think is beautiful. I am pleased with the result and I enjoyed the process of creating this piece.

I guess in working on this project I was influenced by The White Stripes because I feel like their music is largely about music, and the primal, minimalistic relationship between man and the medium. I wanted to do something similar but with clay. After reading the “Showing and Telling” comic, which is really a comic about comics, I realized that medium specificity is really about exploring humankind’s relationship with art. Art is important, so art about art must be really important.