This garment, constructed from canvas drop cloth and slab-rolled clay tiles, embodies the pottery-making process and product. Part of a collection based on collaboration and exploration of the visual arts, “The Potter†aims to represent the artform and the artist’s unique style authentically. After watching a dear friend of mine, Sarah Nicole, fall in love with this form of making and create a small pottery business, I knew that there was much to be learned from this craft. Sarah’s pottery has a signature marking of three rings on the bottom of each of her pieces. I wanted to capture this unique detail in the skirt of the dress, allowing the fluidity and structure to create distinction in the garment. In order to hold these skirts and allow them to be molded, much like clay in a potter’s hands, copper electrical wiring has been threaded through the hem of each layer. Throughout the bodice and top and bottom layers of the skirt, hand-made clay tiles have been sewn in a mosaic-like formation. This not only shows the final product of pottery-making, but also represents the freedom that the craft allows each individual potter. Through each collaboration in the Artforms Embodied, I was challenged as a curator of wearable art and encouraged by fellow artist collaborators to see the world through the lens of their craft. This garment, though formally and aesthetically a representation of pottery-making, became an opposition to the risk of being trapped inside one singular form of artistry.
