Bore
Bore, my newest body of work, takes inspiration from New Brunswick’s unique Acadian coastline. This work aims to evoke the aesthetics found in rocks formed by a naturally occurring phenomenon, known as a “kolk” – an under-water vortex, often of high-velocity and violent force.
This tornado-like water current, found adjacent to streams and riverbeds, has the capacity to form cylindrical depressions into bedrock. Pothole-like crevasses occur while water currents spin small boulders, eroding the rock over time. I have long been intrigued by these formations and their associated legends, a rich visual language of jagged cliffs along the Bay of Fundy.
Bore is an extension of my previous conceptual body of ceramic work, Kolk. Upon conclusion of Kolk, it was clear to me that there is more aesthetic complexity to engage in, stemming from this natural phenomenon. I feel I have only scratched the surface of researching its technical beauty and narrative layers. Bore will further articulate the occurrence of kolks, or rock-cut basins, in more elaborate compositional forms that push my conceptual undertaking even further.
The entry point for these works will be mimicking the naturally occurring “spinning” of water, enacting the powerful rotating water column against boulders through my hand gestures in clay. My hands will act as a conduit, recreating motions capable of eroding bedrock.
With clay, my hands will act as the current does to forge this erosion. Abstract forms will be produced in varied shape and size seeking to evoke an impression of hefty objects bearing deep bored-out holes and crevasses.
These ceramic works will appear as weathered rock – forms conjuring the jagged coastal landscape that bear the act of this naturally occurring tension and its powerful capacity to push boulders.
The forms in this series focus on two different aesthetic potentials that kolks produce. The first iteration will focus on single or multiple bored-out holes within single forms. These holes will appear with varied depths to reflect different markings of time as holes increase in intensity and circumference over years. Holes on varied planes of clay draw the viewer in to engage more deeply with the “landscape” appearing before them. This form seeks to project a landscape where the view doesn’t propel a sense of gravity as conventionally perceived in a landscape, but a non-linear, asymmetrical, and abstract perception of nature. It will manifest imbued with the metaphorical force, speed and violence that naturally occurs in the water current, yet appearing inert and caught in time, petrifying these motions.
The second part of the series will focus on forms containing no openings, and instead explores bored-out formations from a dissected viewpoint. These forms will appear as thick, cross-sections of kolk-formed bedrock. Forms possess a language of their own abstract nature with no reference to established notions of natural or man-made vessels.
These objects will evoke the heaviness of boulders with emphasis on positive and negative space to accentuate tensions in the complexities of weight. Forms will reference topographical views of coastal landscapes where steep ravines cut into a rugged coastline eroding into the Bay of Fundy.
location: Edmonton, AL, CA. Gallery501
