Naomi Cleary
Naomi Cleary's dishes hold the potential for human connection through their tactile nature. They live in our physical space, in our kitchen cabinets, are used every day. Dishes speak of history and lineage, passed down from mother to daughter, connected to family dinners, celebrations and sharing. They are a reminder of the warmth and comfort found in domestic spaces. Naomi carves, draws and paints on these forms, often firing each dish three or four times to create surfaces that contain many layers.
Naomi Cleary at MudFire
Gallery group show Draw+Decal, July 2009
Naomi Cleary Artist Statement
I am re-doing, remaking, and recycling forms that already exist.The objects I make are not simple recreations of their original models. Ichange these collected forms. I salvage them and give them a second chanceto be fully realized, fully considered, a chance to become more than originallypossible.
Reuse of form gives my work the feeling of having existed fora long time. My work does not feel new, as if just made. The colored slipis cracked and peeling up in places looking like weathered paint or old Formicacountertops. The surfaces of my dishes are almost decaying, at the very edgeof decay, ripe and set to burst. There is nothing disturbing about this decay.These things are not rotting. The weathered appearance of these objects speaksto the passage of time. It is an indicator of the cycle of life, like thechange of the seasons and turning leaves in the fall.
These dishes are canvases for my decoration. Working dimensionallyallows me to explore form and surface. Edges frill upwards and outwards extendingform into space. These objects are different on each side and must be viewedfrom many angles to be understood, picked up and turned-over to be fully realized.They are elusive in their revelation of meaning, almost unknowable as theychange with every turn.
Dishes hold the potential for human connection through theirtactile nature. Most people have associations and memories connected to dishes.Dishes live in our physical space, in our kitchen cabinets, are used everyday. They have a relationship to our bodies. We pick them up and even touchthem to our mouths. Dishes speak of history and lineage, passed down frommother to daughter. They are connected to family dinners, celebrations andsharing. They are a reminder of the warmth and comfort found in domestic spaces.The idea of reusing and remaking forms that have history is central to mywork. I am breathing new life into old and forgotten forms in order to carrythem forward into this present day. These objects of the past, given new formnow will extend into the future.
