I began this project with an intense curiosity about the freedoms and limitations of the slip casting process. I was intrigued by the idea of casting readymade objects and quickly changing their identity by making them hollow, soft, and malleable. I found, through many other casting projects, that the idea of quickly transforming an object from one material to another through a simple mold holds something powerful. Through a mold you are given the power to take an object and change it's intention, it's purpose, it's place in the world. You are allowed to dictate it's value.
With this in mind I began a period of intense play. I started collecting objects that piqued my interest for their textures, forms, and uselessness. I began to vacuum form them; I created clusters of objects and created dozens of styrene molds. I was focused on capturing texture and obscuring form, but battled undercuts and material limitations. From those styrene molds I made plaster positives, which began to look like odd fossilized remains of today. As I slip-cast these small clay compositions the forms obscured even more. I then felt the need to assemble these fossils in some way. I collaged and draped the wet casts on to clean, slip-cast vessel blanks.
The simple objects I began with, dollar store toys and ping pong balls, became distorted and blurred into each other. Mundane items are now carefully preserved in these vessels, and the viewer must study each piece to attempt to understand what they once were. What began as a whimsical exploration of form and texture became a line of earthy vessels that seem to have been pulled from the ground, objects that became my modern fossils.
To see more of my process check out my website here.
