Curator’s 1st Place Selection JUNIPER RAG  DARKNESS: A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION 

Sunrise Stories by Julia C R Gray

AMANDA KIDD-KESTLER:

“I keep coming back to this piece, and every time I do, I see something new. This piece shows a mastery of ceramic handbuilding and glazing. The way every surface tells a story makes it read like a book. It is incredibly rich and complex. I love the ties to art history, and the creative use of the modular structure really works to enhance the artist's concept of untold lived experiences.

Absolute knock-out work. Love. Love. Love!"

This sculpture was the first cast torso. I focused on my love and concerns about the ocean and environmental vulnerability/strength. Each column has underglaze painted images of seaweed and other compositions from my beach walk ritual. On the back left column of the ceramic torso, I painted an image from Renaissance Woman Artist Artemisia Gentileschi’s (1593-1654) painting Madalena Desmaiada. To fit my environmental narrative, I depicted a nautilus rather than the original image of a human skull held in her hands.