ARTIST STATEMENT

The Sea Beyond series was inspired by the sand and the sea, with its bright then murky color, fantastical creatures, and scalloped textures. The form and imagery leap from my heart and hands into soft clay. The underworld emerges. Objects once only seen at the farthest reaches and unfathomable depths find light first through my imagination, then into earth and glaze.

My sculptures capture my immersion into light and water, foam and sand, and all the creatures and scenes; rich images and underwater landscapes that tap into the primordial-coral secrets, laughing crustaceans, ocean mysteries, fins, scales and shells, and present them as tactile creations.

My pieces tell stories, vignettes of a murky netherworld floating to the surface of my consciousness from midnight nautical journeys. I am lost at sea and I dive to ocean depths. Fish flash fondly. Shells sing sambas. Seaweed waves wildly. I take the inspirations and form surface dreams through earth and glaze, for pleasure, touch and engagement. 

Each emerging sculpture is a piece of me. I am as strong as the ocean current, yet I am fragile like the breaking wave.

My stories, my dreams, lie within each sculpture. Each creation a part of me.

Jo Clay