Danny Crump,
Ceramic artist

I choose to use clay as medium because of its intrinsic ability to change. While it can take on any form in its raw state, its fired form is permanent. This permanence of ceramics does not occur in nature, but is brought to us by our own human process. This clay material ties us to our own history through objects and artifacts. It brings associations of other cultures and exists in our contemporary society. My inquiry of making sculpture through the ceramic process questions this permanence and fragility. I construct these objects using the mass and gravity of clay to form structures with visual harmonies and strong material dissonance- something, perhaps between wood and steel.

I form objects of made of simple fireclay, available from the masonry shop, feldspar, and iron bearing clays that are cheap and available from clay suppliers The clays are blended to different colors and are formed with slabs to create teetering structures, or large solid slabs. The softness of the clay is balanced between its structural capability of supporting the weight above it. This gravity is sometimes disturbed mid-construction by rotating the piece in a different orientation. This physical jumbling (and sometimes collapse) metaphorically recalls my own confusion with culture. With regards to the technological interface of today's virtual world, firing my work in a wood kiln is not just practical, but an essential reminder of our own gravity.