The Myth of Certainty
The only piece that resonated with me that I made last year in Ceramics 1 was a small monotone figure of a man named Leroy with an ox skull for a head shown in the front of my display– he represented hopelessness and renewal and gave me a tangible way to process a complex range of emotions in my mind at the time. Going into this semester, I was inspired to create a body of work expanding on the concept of this lone creature by creating larger, deeper, more vibrant and expressive pieces that further explored this newfound vulnerability in my style. This year, the three figures shown here each represent a different battlefront of my identity as a genderqueer student struggling through the discovery of my own self. Their names are Prometheus, Sisyphus, and Atlas, each named after a figure from Greek mythology. All three of their bodies are muscular and masculine with varying sizes and definition, but all share a deep shade of brown– upon closer examination, their skin is fluctuated with green and red, the result of mixing three different glazes. The color of their bodies is metaphorical of the rotting of certain parts of my identity, contrasted with powerful muscles and details that represent self growth and the pursuit of my inner strength. The skulls were each modeled after a real animal skull from my collection; a red hartebeest, wild boar, and black bear (the latter two shown here). Their steadfast, skeletal heads show that even as I grow, change, and discover, my core values remain unchanged and my personality remains true to my bones. The color of the skulls was achieved with a different set of 3 glazes, while additional details such as Atlas’s shoulder pad and scarf and Prometheus’s horns were done with individual glazes. Sisyphus has a hinged jaw and his teeth were sculpted by using real boar’s teeth as stamps. I first took interest in bone collecting three years ago and now I am the president and founder of Trinity’s Natural Forensics club. I seek to educate others on the anatomy and intricacies of skeletons, and since skulls and comparative anatomy are both central aspects of my personality, my intention to represent my interest in this set is shown in each sculpture. Although I can try my best to explain the complexities of each sculpture and its meaning, the best speaker of my true intention is the art itself– let the firm, willful details and deep variation of colors in this set sing for themselves. I am blown away at the progress I’ve seen in myself this semester and I will continue to create sculptures with the same theme in the future because I truly believe that I’ve discovered my true style as an artist.