JOINING HANDS: A collaborative cup project UNIVERSITY OF DENVER / JUNE 2014
"Approaching the illustrations as a landscape urged me to question what initiates us to reconsider or at least recognize the value in unintended acts of creativity."
Artist Statement
MICHELLE MANDICO
These cups represent a collaborative exploration of elevating objects and acts that are normally taken for granted. I am interested in challenging the suppressed role of a “bi-product art” by creating a series of work that invites us to reflect on the way we choose look at "doodling" (or illustration, as I prefer it) and functional ceramics. Too often, mindless drawings are tossed along with the napkin or get lost in a notebook. What happens to them when they are transformed into a permanent art form? In branding the illustrations of my collaborators onto the third-firing glaze surface of my ceramic vessels, I am aiming to illuminate the value of art that is not necessarily created with the intent of being displayed or publically viewed. Doodling tends to serve as a convenient way to pass the time amidst situations that claim to be of higher priority (e.g., listening to a class lecture, talking to someone on the phone, etc.). Likewise, in our fast-paced food culture, we rarely take the time to appreciate the surface and forms that we eat and drink from. In the passing moment of consumption, our first focus is good, and understandably, our perceptions of serving ware tend to reflect the fleeting value of whatever it is that we are consuming.
My inquiry around how we value these creative habits began to unfold through a response-oriented relationship between 2-dimensional drawings and 3-dimensional ceramic forms. I strived for authenticity in the collaborative effort of this project by arranging the decal drawings onto the forms in a way that honored both artists (myself and the doodler) through a synthesized composition...a thoughtful reply. In the joining of dimensions, these pieces convey my curiosity around scale, scope and macro-sizing the micro. Approaching the illustrations as a landscape urged me to question what initiates us to reconsider or at least recognize the value in unintended acts of creativity.
Do we view them differently in this merged context from when they are isolated art forms? In the status of blank white walls and sturdy black shelves…
