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A Humble Hum: Rhythm of the Potter’s Wheel Recent Work by Resident Artist Ashley Morrison
February 24, 2015 – June 21, 2015
Organized by the Arkansas Arts Center
Ashley Morrison holds a Ceramics Degree from the Kansas City Art Institute. She recently finished an academic residency at Colorado State University and is the current Resident Artist in Ceramics at the Arkansas Art Center. This program was designed as an opportunity for emerging and mid-career artists to gain valuable teaching experience, while providing them work space and time to further develop their ideas and techniques in clay.
“I am Korean American. I was born in Piacenza, Italy and lived in Japan before my family moved to Arkansas. Initially, my favorite memories growing up came from family meals. I grew up watching my mother cook and prep only traditional Korean meals and my father stressing the importance of family meal time. Inevitability, these two values connected with my interest in the dishes we used and how these objects symbolized time with my family.
There is a timelessness surrounding clay and its utility. I am intrigued by how this material represents our past, and how its content evolves and changes between each generation through its analogy and context. For me, as an artist who uses clay, I am drawn to the structure, labor, and discipline it takes to work with clay. While my work does not focus on my ethnicity, there is an unconscious expression of how I view a variety of past and present cultures, including Islamic, Song, and Koryo Dynasty Ceramics. I am also influenced by the design and philosophy of Art Nouveau. At my best, I attempt to create uniquely unfamiliar functional ware which evokes a sense of mystery, while simultaneously exploring issues of ornamentation and beauty. I find pleasure in altering traditional objects and distorting ideas of function to suit my own aesthetic sensibility.”
—Ashley Morrison