Priya Thoresen

In my current work I seek to contrast and balance my control and intentions for working with the material of clay with the organic and unexpected results of the firing process. I build gridded forms referencing wire and plastic baskets at a scale common to domestic objects. The work is slowly built with thin coils which retain a visual memory of the marks of my hands and a history of the labor involved in the process. These coils become gridded lines which provide a structure which supports the form, similar to a contour line drawing. Once the work is put into the kiln, the iron rich clay begins to flux out and the carefully placed grid lines begin to move, sometimes with dynamic and precarious results. The work is then “repaired” with polymer clay, adding contemporary colors and materials, and resilience in re-defining my intentions for the finished piece.