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Nan Kennedy
Primary Medium Mixed Media
Secondary MediumMixed Media/Other
Description of Work Sculptural Icons
Chapter Midstate
Website www.nankennedy.com
Additional Links www.nankennedy.com
Artist Statement
Starting with a lump of damp clay, I begin every new piece by sculpting a face. I first consider, what are the thoughts and feelings of this person in the moment of time I’m capturing by the clay? Usually, they are pondering a mystery – the nature of life, of love, suffering, joy, death, or the hereafter. They are saints, angels, the Savior; or ordinary mortals filled with a sense of trepidation and wonder at the world around them.
Next, the hands. While their faces reveal their inner life, their hands disclose how those inmost thoughts draw them out into the world around them, how they use their communion with the divine to communicate with others. They reach out, they bless, they enfold, they embrace – or, at times, they close in upon themselves. Each figure is subjected to the fiery furnace (well, the kiln) to make permanent its attitude, then glazed or painted to beautify and unify.
The shimmering vibrancy of the mosaic background is itself part of the story, in which the figures are surrounded by a fantastical splendor and glory that they can’t perceive in this world.
Lately, I have delved more deeply into the intersection of two versus three-dimensional objects. Is a clay sculptural element always 3D, or can it be flattened, put in perspective, and reflect a 2D view of a 3D object? Is the glass mosaic always two dimensional, or can it be used to portray 3D elements such as a lake, a lamp, or a broken window? Can the clay and glass even be combined on certain objects, blurring the line between 2D and 3D further? I find myself increasingly incorporating aspects of proportion and lighting to explore this 2D/3D connection further.
Viewers of my work often comment on how long it must take to complete one piece. Yes, it does take time, but the protracted process of sculpting and drying, firing and re-firing, glazing, painting, laying mosaic and setting it all into reclaimed wood is emblematic. The weeks and months of creation befit the finished icon – the representation of a person contemplating or marveling at a mystery, arrived at through the grueling process of life.
Starting with a lump of damp clay, I begin every new piece by sculpting a face. I first consider, what are the thoughts and feelings of this person in the moment of time I’m capturing by the clay? Usually, they are pondering a mystery – the nature of life, of love, suffering, joy, death, or the hereafter. They are saints, angels, the Savior; or ordinary mortals filled with a sense of trepidation and wonder at the world around them.
Next, the hands. While their faces reveal their inner life, their hands disclose how those inmost thoughts draw them out into the world around them, how they use their communion with the divine to communicate with others. They reach out, they bless, they enfold, they embrace – or, at times, they close in upon themselves. Each figure is subjected to the fiery furnace (well, the kiln) to make permanent its attitude, then glazed or painted to beautify and unify.
The shimmering vibrancy of the mosaic background is itself part of the story, in which the figures are surrounded by a fantastical splendor and glory that they can’t perceive in this world.
Lately, I have delved more deeply into the intersection of two versus three-dimensional objects. Is a clay sculptural element always 3D, or can it be flattened, put in perspective, and reflect a 2D view of a 3D object? Is the glass mosaic always two dimensional, or can it be used to portray 3D elements such as a lake, a lamp, or a broken window? Can the clay and glass even be combined on certain objects, blurring the line between 2D and 3D further? I find myself increasingly incorporating aspects of proportion and lighting to explore this 2D/3D connection further.
Viewers of my work often comment on how long it must take to complete one piece. Yes, it does take time, but the protracted process of sculpting and drying, firing and re-firing, glazing, painting, laying mosaic and setting it all into reclaimed wood is emblematic. The weeks and months of creation befit the finished icon – the representation of a person contemplating or marveling at a mystery, arrived at through the grueling process of life.
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