Sculpting Space| Week 8+9
First, let me say that I love this notion of working with Earth to create one's work. In fine art, I believe there's too much emphasis on mastering a technique and not enough focus on connecting with the mediums we manipulate to create our expressions. If you couldn't tell by now, I'm an Earth sign, Taurus to be specific. There's this theme of women's work that emphasizes domestic ritual that I also appreciate about this course. American society doesn't put enough appreciation on a Sunday/Easter/Christmas/Thanksgiving/New Years' dinner for me. These rituals are performances of familial commitment that have lasted for generations due in part to society's patriarchal influence, but I also think women understand the power of working with heat, as in the case for Odundo. Symbology and function are recurring themes within this context of ceramics, bleeding into notions of offering or providing. Odundo's travels throughout the Americas, Caribbean, Europe, and her native Nigerian + Kenyan roots informed me of her flexibility in incorporating various techniques for her practice. As someone who also works with the Earth, I'm interested in using this multi-national knowledge acquisition technique to build my encaustic practice.
I was also impressed to learn that locals in Nigeria had caught on to western techniques for wheel-throwing and integrated them in their own indigenous practices. A true interdisciplinary practice. One of the most crucial takeaways from this reading was Odundo's personal reflection of her initial failed attempts at wheel throwing. "The only way you will learn is to complete the whole process, whether you succeed or fail" one of her instructors Peter Bako. Man, could I have used his words when I first began creating encaustic paint from scratch. I have since learned a simpler technique from master encaustic painter Elise Wagner, but during my first attempts a creating this medium, almost exactly a year ago, each batch felt like a failed attempt, although I rarely trashed my creations. Working with the Earth as your medium is hard, really hard. I am leaving this week, so grateful to have come across an artist who has been where I am and has since then mastered her craft.
Magdalene Odundo, Untitled, 1990, burnished and carbonized terracotta. Courtesy: Frankel Foundation for Art