Elizabeth Vorlicek
Flux Studios Emerging Artist
Flux Studios Emerging Artist
2011
In my ceramic sculpture I have always been drawn to the process of taking un-related items and combining them together to form a whole. I create three-dimensional still-life arrangements that capture moments from daily life. Slip and under-glaze painted “clay textile” slabs swaddle and form the skin and foundation for these pieces. Similarly in my 2-D collage work, I might cut up a discarded security envelope and use this pattern to set the stage for characters from postage stamps, writing from notes and handmade papers, rich in color and texture. Pieces that sit on my studio shelves can always be re-discovered and combined with another form. My nature is to collect and squirrel things away just in case... Nothing is ever really finished or safe from being re-purposed. I have a memory from childhood of cutting apart a discarded copy of Jazz by Henri Matisse and gluing the spicy scraps of Matisse’s collage work into paper jewelry. The ability of color to flirt with the onlooker and activate the space within each composition is a constant source of motivation for me. This spring, I finished a project in which I made a paper collage a day for one year. This daily commitment to the studio reenergized my outlook and made the process of making art “easy”. I was pulled into the rhythm of constructing these miniature environments. A sense of play, in assembling both found and my own objects, is critical to this work and continues to pull me back to the studio each day.
