New Venus: Shock and Awe Redux
There are two theories of how ceramic firing developed. One is related to food, the other awe. Shock and Awe Redux is a re-performance of the Paleolithic practice of tossing Venus figures into an open fire, likely to see them explode.
Rather than remake the Venus form, I have been using studio visits as a time to sit, talk and make impressions of the interior space of the hand. This action, taking a ball of clay and squeezing it, is not only one of the first actions upon feeling clay, it captures the mark of labor and strength. The hollow space of the hand is the space of a hammer, a saw, a knife and a handshake.
Perhaps our Paleolithic ancestors who sat around a fire on a cold evening in January found it deeply pleasurable to throw the forms into the fire and wait to find out which of them would explode. The many survivors hang on the wall.
Video Editing: Alicia Chester
