Not How Things Work

University Center Gallery ~ University of Montana, MT
September 2018

 

Not How Things Work is driven by a curiosity of how and why things function in a way that we know as familiar. The inspiration for this research can be as subtle as a backwards door knob or the motion of pulling a push-broom. Objects have a capacity to perform as agents when we consider them as legitimate contributors to our daily interactions. Ceramics and craftsmanship are jumping off points for this language. By recontextualizing function and form as we are familiarized, I create an aesthetically playful and absurd perspective to things we may or may not recognize. 


Through aesthetic manipulation of form, implied-interaction, and colorful tactile surfaces, these objects are my interpretation of their associated-use and their applied-function. Using the language between material, object-function and their use, these things allow for analysis of the qualities that make them active participants in our lives. The goal of this work is to make the viewer question, and reconsider their relationship with utilitarian objects and those who make them.