Which movement(s) from art/design history do you feel the most akin to and why?
When I have studied the Dada and Surrealism time periods in art history class, to me, they have always felt familiar. The Dadaists began as a reaction to World War I in Germany as an artistic and literary movement. What strikes me about Dadaist art is that it emphasized the use of "readymates," or real everyday things identified as the art with little manipulation from the artist. For example, when I am making a vessel on the pottery wheel, they clay has already been presented to me. better yet, I am utilizing a creative task that has been around for thousands and thousands of years. What makes my creations different is what I do to the surface after the form is made. When I create the surface, whether it be with glaze, cold surface techniques, writing on the vessel-- I am challenging my own role with the medium. The Dadaist era ends with a segwey into the Surrealist movement, which also catches my liking. Surrealist artists used shock and discomfort as a means of communication with the audience. The works revolved around dreamlike sensation, the unconscious mind, and the power of imagination. I gravitate towards surrealist work in a way as it is a goal of mine to make my audience feel like they are experiencing dementia; which kind of relates.
Although my current works do not reflect these eras tremendously, they are two art perods that are influencing me tremendously as I work towards my BFA and learn more about art history. Beatrice Wood is a known ceramicist from New York City who was a member of the Dadaist art movement, and attached is some of her sculptural work. She often made human figures out of clay displaying pensive and anxious emotion, similar to what I try and show with my current face jugs.
Beatrice Wood 1893–1998
Untitled (marriage)
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