Pictured: Nicole Seisler, Holding Patterns (detail), 2021. Porcelain and drywall screws. 60 x 120 x 3 inches.
| On View: | September 11–December 19, 2021 |
| Reception: | Saturday, October 9, 2021 • Artist Talk and Reception |
About the Artist
Nicole Seisler is a Los Angeles-based ceramic artist who creates sculpture, installation, and public art that investigate time, materiality, process, and the overlapping roles of artist/viewer/participant/collaborator. Seisler has exhibited widely at museums ranging from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Museum of Fine Arts Tallahassee to the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and Craft Contemporary in Los Angeles. Her book Recipes for Conceptual Clay (in the time of covid-19) was published in 2020.
Seisler received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and her BFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has taught ceramics at SAIC, the University of Washington, UCLA, and she was the Lincoln Visiting Professor of Ceramics at Scripps College. Seisler is also Director of the Los Angeles contemporary ceramics gallery A-B Projects, where she has curated over thirty exhibitions and offers programming that rigorously reevaluates the trajectory of contemporary ceramics.
Follow Nicole Seisler on Instagram or visit NYSProjects.com to learn more.
Artist Statement
Residue, remnants, remainders, byproducts, castoffs, cutoffs, discards, edits, fragments; these aspects and fractions accumulate—sometimes purposefully, sometimes inadvertently—through our processes of making artwork. Are they inherently less valuable or worthy than the objects that occupy the central focus of our making? Or do these crumbs, loops, lumps, piles, and shards contribute additional meaning that bolsters the prioritized work? Do they complete the prioritized work? Can the residue become the prioritized work?
For these Holding Patterns, slabs are stretched, cut into parts, and constructed into shelves. The remnants from each slab–material typically discarded or recycled–is reattached with glaze and displayed prominently. In essence, the function of each shelf is to hold and present its own discarded parts. Each shelf explores a different type of holding pattern, whether technical, physical, geographical, or psychological.
The porcelain mind map, Thoughts on Holding Patterns, reveals the project’s underlying conceptual and emotional development.
The creation of this work was generously sponsored by Ash Street Project.
Declaración de Intenciones como Artista
Residuos, remanentes, restos, subproductos, descartes, ediciones, fragmentos; estos aspectos y fracciones se acumulan, a veces intencionalmente, a veces inadvertidamente, a través de nuestros procesos de creación de obras de arte. ¿Son inherentemente menos valiosos o dignos que los objetos que ocupan el foco central de nuestra creación? ¿O estas migajas, bucles, bultos, pilas y fragmentos aportan un significado adicional que refuerza el trabajo priorizado? ¿Completan el trabajo priorizado? ¿Puede el residuo convertirse en el trabajo prioritario?
De Mantener en su Lugar, las losas se estiran, se cortan en partes y se construyen en estantes. Los remanentes de cada losa, material normalmente desechado o reciclado, se vuelven a unir con esmalte y se exhiben de manera prominente. En esencia, la función de cada estante es contener y presentar sus propias partes desechadas. Cada estante explora un tipo diferente de mantener en lugar, ya sea técnico, físico, geográfico o psicológico.
El mapa mental de porcelana, Pensamientos sobre Mantener en su Lugar, revela el desarrollo conceptual y emocional subyacente del proyecto.
La creación de esta obra fue patrocinada generosamente por Ash Street Project.