On cold winter days, my grandmother would fix a pot of hot cocoa to warm our fingers and help chase away the cold. The conversations we would have as we hugged our steaming cups would comfort our souls. To this day, when I sit down with a warm cup of cocoa, I reflect back on the warmth that radiates from the cup and those foggy memories become more clear. On a cold winters day in the far future, when I inevitably find myself unable to remember conversations with my grandmother, I plan to use my ceramic cups to trigger memories that might have been otherwise unreachable.
Can art be a conduit of emotional support for those in psychological distress; a vessel by which an individual can receive non-verbal gestures of encouragement and reassurance? I believe it can. There are times in your life when you need your best friend. My grandmother is that to me. Recently I needed the comfort and reassurance that only she could give, but was unable to fill that void. I decided to create a ceramic work that embodied her. In the work Nancy, I utilized the language of flowers to speak to who she is and the permanence of the porcelain to remind me of her enduring love. I made a triptych of my grandmother; who she was before I knew her, the amazing woman she is now, and what she will continue to be once she has passed.
