BFA Artist Statement and Exhibition
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020, Texas State University classes moved online and the ceramics studio was closed. I pivoted in one semester from an in-person show of my handmade ceramics to a new virtual project.
“Let all those who are hungry, enter and eat…and all who are in distress, come and celebrate.”
–The Passover Haggadah
This is the invitation I offer with each one of these recipes and accompanying ceramic dishes. It is an open invitation to accept extended generosity, to be united and nourished at the table of the human family. In those moments when we can’t gather together physically, using meaningful dishes and recipes can conjure for us fond memories of good times spent together and inspire hope that there will be good times to come.
The idea to create a recipe book was inspired by the rich universal history of hospitality and the giving and receiving of food found across human traditions and religions. The image of the Heavenly Banquet, where all needs will be met and all desires fulfilled, spans diverse cultures throughout time. It is my hope that my work calls back to a universal human need for nourishment on a variety of levels— from the obvious physical need, to the philosophic, emotional, and spiritual— and a shared human tradition of giving and receiving.
Making tableware always seems to lead to the thought of the dinner itself; form and function are so inextricably linked. What kinds of food is this dish made to hold? What is the ideal dinner to serve? Through images of my ceramic dinnerware, I express that warmth, joy, and generosity through easy-to-use open forms, bright colors, and motifs that reference Springtime and its abundance of life—flowers, fruits, butterflies. To capture those bright colors and imagery, I am working within the tradition of Majolica painting. I am inspired by the crisp, clear narrative imagery, vivid colors, and calligraphic text of Islamic pottery, Hispano-Moorish wares, Italian Renaissance majolica, and contemporary artists, including Linda Arbuckle and Matthias Ostermann. I have chosen to work with terracotta clay because of its associations with functional folk tableware, domesticity, and non-preciousness; the material itself feels more casual and invites daily use.
The recipes in my book are interpretations of dishes I experienced during a semester studying abroad in Italy. While I had certainly experienced many family dinners and important meals, it was in Italy that I really discovered how sharing food brings people together and the importance of certain meals in building up a rich cultural life. These recipes conjure up for me fond memories, and a bittersweet nostalgia for a time, a place, and people that feel like home.
