STATEMENT OF WORK

My ceramic work, both amorphic and organic has taken me many years to evolve. A pivotal early work, including in my images, of a Ball'd treeish shape marked a drastic change from more recognisable imagery in my ceramic scculptures to what it has become. My sculptures are composed of hand build up layering of round shapes and holes or spaces, the pieces grow organically as I'm building them. They may seem to have grow like a stalagmite at times, springing from a base, but in reality, the growth happens all over the work, at the same time. Some pieces take weeks to complete, while others seem to grow more quickly. For more than two years, I've kept the palette and the finished surface in a majolica glaze. I both love the effect of the breaking of the majolica glaze on and over and underneath all of the balls and obtrusions and holes. Limiting the palate never feels like a limitation, because, as in all ceramic work, there are results which are surprising. When the glaze crawls, for example, and creates areas where the fired earthenware clay shows through. I embrace all of the effects, both controlled and not, and think of the majolica and how it reacts to the kiln's low firing as another sculptural element of my pieces. 

--Monica Forrestall