NCECA 2019

SMSU Event Center BC

NCECA is the National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts. This Year is held in Minnesota, Minneapolis. I plan to attend this conference to education myself with the workshop and lectures that are held at the conference. This will help me push myself as an artist and a graduate student for my practice. My work explores ideas about of indulgence, high-maintenance, and lavishness. The receptive nature of clay captures my marks while allowing me to give permanence to my ideas by firing the clay, which results in a ceramic object. Self-acceptance inspired by the Body Positive Movement is incorporated it into my work, and has allowed me to embrace a new-found confidence and ability to share that struggle with others. Being a plus size woman does not fit within conventional ideas of perfection as portrayed through media. Creating objects that mimic parts of my own body, that I once was dissatisfied with, allow me to celebrate and embrace my physicality. Through my work, I aspire to share the struggle toward a more confident acceptance of who you are, and to empower others to realize and recognize their own power. Body Positivity is becoming mainstream, it’s stated meaning encourages the adoption of affirmations and encouraging attitudes toward the negativity that often colors one’s perceptions of self. My work is part of a subtle nod for others to acknowledge the potential of a healthy perspective toward celebrating who they are as they too navigate the influential, difficult and unachievable standards defined by images of perfection that surround us.