WFC An International Collection of Wood-fired and Sculptural Ceramics 薪窯陶芸と彫刻陶芸 インターナショナル・コレクション Een Internationale Collectie van Houtgestookte en Beeldhouwtechnieken Keramiek Une Collection Internationale du Feu de Bois et Céramique Sculptural ????????????
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Paula Rice
Flagstaff, Arizona United States
Professor Northern Arizona University
Professor Northern Arizona University
As an amateur astronomer, I am fascinated by the sky at night. I am fortunate to live in the city of Flagstaff, whose clear skies and high altitude assisted in the discovery of the planet Pluto in 1930. I have joined several astronomy clubs, and have spent many hours looking out of telescopes into the vast, mysterious, and impersonal universe that surrounds us. I have been studying images from the Hubble Telescope. From that has come a sense of chilling indifference to us here on Earth. I seek outward, in a kind of pilgrimage and ascent to the stars, only to be thrown back into myself, where I started, in my mind.
My new work uses these experiences as fuel. I am in the process of creating a solar system of figures made mostly from clay. Each planet figure includes new information from space as landscape or surface. New scientific discoveries are included in the postures of each piece as well. Mars, for example, is in the process of drinking water from the hand, in acknowledgement of the recent definitive discovery that there has been water on the surface of Mars in the past. Also, my pieces are influenced compositionally by the frontality and sense of stillness of ancient Egyptian figurative sculpture, a sensibility that seems appropriate to planets when I look out at them through a telescope.
Mostly, though, my new work is a way for me to imagine a reality incomprehensively vast, and bring it down to human size. It is a way for me to inhabit these planets myself, and to make human connection where there seems to be none. It is about us here on Earth. Our sense of place, and the size of our imaginations, has had to stretch to include the vast landscapes of space for the first time in human history. My new work places us in these new surroundings.
My new work uses these experiences as fuel. I am in the process of creating a solar system of figures made mostly from clay. Each planet figure includes new information from space as landscape or surface. New scientific discoveries are included in the postures of each piece as well. Mars, for example, is in the process of drinking water from the hand, in acknowledgement of the recent definitive discovery that there has been water on the surface of Mars in the past. Also, my pieces are influenced compositionally by the frontality and sense of stillness of ancient Egyptian figurative sculpture, a sensibility that seems appropriate to planets when I look out at them through a telescope.
Mostly, though, my new work is a way for me to imagine a reality incomprehensively vast, and bring it down to human size. It is a way for me to inhabit these planets myself, and to make human connection where there seems to be none. It is about us here on Earth. Our sense of place, and the size of our imaginations, has had to stretch to include the vast landscapes of space for the first time in human history. My new work places us in these new surroundings.
Paula Rice
Flagstaff, Arizona United States
Professor Northern Arizona University
Professor Northern Arizona University
As an amateur astronomer, I am fascinated by the sky at night. I am fortunate to live in the city of Flagstaff, whose clear skies and high altitude assisted in the discovery of the planet Pluto in 1930. I have joined several astronomy clubs, and have spent many hours looking out of telescopes into the vast, mysterious, and impersonal universe that surrounds us. I have been studying images from the Hubble Telescope. From that has come a sense of chilling indifference to us here on Earth. I seek outward, in a kind of pilgrimage and ascent to the stars, only to be thrown back into myself, where I started, in my mind.
My new work uses these experiences as fuel. I am in the process of creating a solar system of figures made mostly from clay. Each planet figure includes new information from space as landscape or surface. New scientific discoveries are included in the postures of each piece as well. Mars, for example, is in the process of drinking water from the hand, in acknowledgement of the recent definitive discovery that there has been water on the surface of Mars in the past. Also, my pieces are influenced compositionally by the frontality and sense of stillness of ancient Egyptian figurative sculpture, a sensibility that seems appropriate to planets when I look out at them through a telescope.
Mostly, though, my new work is a way for me to imagine a reality incomprehensively vast, and bring it down to human size. It is a way for me to inhabit these planets myself, and to make human connection where there seems to be none. It is about us here on Earth. Our sense of place, and the size of our imaginations, has had to stretch to include the vast landscapes of space for the first time in human history. My new work places us in these new surroundings.
My new work uses these experiences as fuel. I am in the process of creating a solar system of figures made mostly from clay. Each planet figure includes new information from space as landscape or surface. New scientific discoveries are included in the postures of each piece as well. Mars, for example, is in the process of drinking water from the hand, in acknowledgement of the recent definitive discovery that there has been water on the surface of Mars in the past. Also, my pieces are influenced compositionally by the frontality and sense of stillness of ancient Egyptian figurative sculpture, a sensibility that seems appropriate to planets when I look out at them through a telescope.
Mostly, though, my new work is a way for me to imagine a reality incomprehensively vast, and bring it down to human size. It is a way for me to inhabit these planets myself, and to make human connection where there seems to be none. It is about us here on Earth. Our sense of place, and the size of our imaginations, has had to stretch to include the vast landscapes of space for the first time in human history. My new work places us in these new surroundings.
Keywords: paula rice
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