I created the Boddities, which is a pun for body oddities, out of an exploration of “becoming-as-being-built” sculptures with clay. The forms evolved as I coil-built them, folding and bulging in areas as I worked upward. They turn into abstract bodies with hints of human anatomy and internal organs. I worked with my hands until they were sore from squeezing, compressing, and scraping. Each movement of the creating process and addition of clay grounded me to the task.
Bodies experience life differently. Each one has its own journey but is always connected to another at some point. Our bodies are vessels; they contain generations of hopes and dreams, the experiences, stories, and memories they collect along their travels. I reflect on how my upbringing, environment, and choices have affected my body. I translate those influences and marks upon my life into the surfaces I create with carving, manipulating, and caressing. I converse with my materials to let them tell my story for me.
The non-ceramic materials I used mended and transformed the Boddities. This series of works taught me that they are never truly finished. They are in a constant state of becoming that evolves as they are brought to new places and incorporated with new materials. In this way, they exceed my expectations for my original vision. They took on their own vitality and agency, and my hand is a guide to where they wanted to go. The Boddities taught me always to explore further, and not to be afraid to share that process of thinking and making in their surface and form. I learned that “broken” doesn’t mean the end of a piece.