Katia Stewart
MA Studio Art
My process is driven intuitively by making aesthetic decisions with a sort of poetic logic I developed through early and prolonged exposure to western wildernesses from the jagged terrain of granite peaked mountains to the dark, metallic-pink of desert buttes. I work from the perspective of process to convey the uncovering of beauty after having found it in the gestures of preparing the materials.
I juxtapose formative experiences with glimpses of industry towards seeing beauty in unlikely places. I hope to bring attention to how industry reflects nature because it is humankind’s creation and humankind is of nature. By pushing my methods and materials beyond their breaking point, the focus is on the medium and my hand in the work is minimized. This puts the development of the object into the hands of nature, appearing as a formation, and the result is a questionably manifested object. By mixing, matching and disguising materials, I am discovering the eye transforms perception and scale.
Recently I’ve been working on a series of low, rectangular clay containers that hold collections of natural elements like elaborate dioramas of remembered wildernesses. They could be samples of planetary surfaces excised and preserved by alien technology. Epic occurrences in geology are my focus when creating a series. Switching between the micro and macro of landscapes energizes the work. Working in multiples allows for a narrative to develop, revealing the patient life of the wild.
