Samantha Healy
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dads hats
2020
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socks #1
2020
Unglazed terra cotta
Statement
inherited memory
When it comes to understanding my past, I look back at the everyday memories I have cherished, elevating what could be ordinary things; from a simple thing resting on the shelf or my dads caps hanging on the rack in the laundry room. I explore the idea of the simplest memory.. My work is filled with pieces dedicated to individual's of mine and memories that I have of them, a burnt out sock that was once there but through the firing has simply gone away only leaving the shell of the object. As basic as a passing moment, and its memory left to be remembered. I became interested in this idea of burn outs, as a way of capturing the “memory” of the object, but also the moment of itself disappearing, only to just leave its shell, as if it were a snapshot of that object. Leaving the forms unglazed, the rawness gives it some kind of new texture, that is not completely there, but a blurred filter because memories aren’t that vivid. Having the use of red earthenware, it pays homage to the red clays of Georgia. Using elements of specifically chosen home items, they become the central visual part of the installation. “inherited memory” will be a simple representation of my childhood home, using minimal or monochromatic colors used to replicate “the home” through imagery with the juxtaposition of the raw terra cotta color of the objects. Moments to create a pause, clarity. A space that would let the viewer stop, contemplate the object, and through it feel connected to the present.
Ceramics (BFA) Students