Gabriella Spear, Mother, hand-built stoneware ceramic, 12x6x4 in.
INSPIRATION
This ceramic sculpture began as a simple utilitarian exercise: an intent to form a bowl. However, the tactile act of wedging and hollowing out the clay became a metaphor. The hollowing was no longer an empty void for storage, but an evocative carving of identity, sacrifice and strength.
The resulting form is an unadorned, armless nude female figure. In stripping away her arms, I sought to highlight the visceral weight that she carries internally. Her open stomach, a cavity originally meant for physical holding, serves as a poignant representation of the endless emotional and mental labor that women navigate. This work is a direct reflection on my own mother, and more broadly, on the intricate power of the feminine. It explores the paradoxical strength required to hold the world around us- to serve as a vessel even when our own hearts and hands are full.
In the context of Revealing our Magnificence, this piece redefines the term not as a state of being decorated or complete, but as the raw capacity to endure. By hollowing out the form, I am not showing a lack, but revealing the vast, quiet space where a woman’s strength resides. This work transforms the concept of a container from a simple object into a raw, metaphoric portrait of endurance. Her magnificence is found in her ability to remain a sanctuary and a vessel for others, transforming the weight of life’s hollowing into a profound, internal grace.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art is a collection of blues. Blue observations, thoughts and facts. A collection of different subjects and styles entwined by an underlying blue tone that is my perspective. The artwork achieves a mood that is executed not often by the corporeal meaning of the word blue, but by the feeling.
As an artist, my emphasis on emotion is made to mirror and activate a type of familiarity with the viewer. Ultimately, constructing a deeper connection and deeper understanding within both the individual, and for the collective.
The viewer is called upon to help complete the work through their own perception, and hopefully be moved to find the metaphors that tie into a meaningful experience.
Can the color blue cure? And if it cannot cure, can it at least illicit hope?
Gabriella Spear, Mother, hand-built stoneware ceramic, 12x6x4 in.
INSPIRATION
This ceramic sculpture began as a simple utilitarian exercise: an intent to form a bowl. However, the tactile act of wedging and hollowing out the clay became a metaphor. The hollowing was no longer an empty void for storage, but an evocative carving of identity, sacrifice and strength.
The resulting form is an unadorned, armless nude female figure. In stripping away her arms, I sought to highlight the visceral weight that she carries internally. Her open stomach, a cavity originally meant for physical holding, serves as a poignant representation of the endless emotional and mental labor that women navigate. This work is a direct reflection on my own mother, and more broadly, on the intricate power of the feminine. It explores the paradoxical strength required to hold the world around us- to serve as a vessel even when our own hearts and hands are full.
In the context of Revealing our Magnificence, this piece redefines the term not as a state of being decorated or complete, but as the raw capacity to endure. By hollowing out the form, I am not showing a lack, but revealing the vast, quiet space where a woman’s strength resides. This work transforms the concept of a container from a simple object into a raw, metaphoric portrait of endurance. Her magnificence is found in her ability to remain a sanctuary and a vessel for others, transforming the weight of life’s hollowing into a profound, internal grace.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My art is a collection of blues. Blue observations, thoughts and facts. A collection of different subjects and styles entwined by an underlying blue tone that is my perspective. The artwork achieves a mood that is executed not often by the corporeal meaning of the word blue, but by the feeling.
As an artist, my emphasis on emotion is made to mirror and activate a type of familiarity with the viewer. Ultimately, constructing a deeper connection and deeper understanding within both the individual, and for the collective.
The viewer is called upon to help complete the work through their own perception, and hopefully be moved to find the metaphors that tie into a meaningful experience.
Can the color blue cure? And if it cannot cure, can it at least illicit hope?
