Christine LaValley
Delicate Traces: Covid Bowls (2020)
porcelain & underglazes
3 x 12 x 8 in.
NFS
Artist and Educator. When the shelter in place was ordered my relatively routine life as an art educator changed, morphing into elearning..giving me what I always desire-more time in my studio. At first, I found it difficult to focus on the two series I am currently in the midst of……So, I ordered some porcelain. I missed the feel of working with and teaching with clay, plus it’s not a medium I normally work with in my studio at home. The tactile experience of the clay-the primitive and patient technique of pinching out forms, letting them set up, pinching thinner, letting them set up more, then scraping and scraping to a thinner and thinner fragile wall; and finally, applying soft tones of underglaze-resonated, becoming an extension of my touch. The balance of the softness and fragility of their not yet fired walls, against the stress and anxiety of the now, was a balm to my soul.
So, I ask: Is an object still fragile, still delicate, still require care if you are unable to pick it up, feel it, hold it, cup it gently in your hands? Can one still feel the delicacy, the fragility of an object through other senses?
© Christine LaValley