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Winter Resident Profile - Adero Willard – 2008 Salad Days Resident Artist 
The title I chose for my M.F.A. show, "Peel and Resist," represents the idea of interplay between two, sometimes opposing, elements. The point at which these elements interact is the "space in between," a place that pulls me in two directions: toward ambiguity or toward definition. Although my work is largely functional, I enjoy the challenge of making decorative pieces, both for daily use and for special occasions. In the last few years, I have been working as well in tile and with sculpture, which allows me to extend the boundaries of ornamentation beyond the limits imposed by pots. In interacting with shapes, colors, and patterns to create layered surfaces in clay, and in organizing divergent concepts to produce something new, I learn about myself. My work is based on intuition, but it also reveals my love of ornamentation and the pleasure I take in working with pattern and color. In the studio, I mix and match glazes from China, Islam (Persia), and Italy, using Celadon, Majolica, Tang-dynasty reds, greens, Persian gold, and turquoises, giving me a palette of color, texture, and subtle translucencies.  I
am interested in how both objects and people assume different
visual qualities as the surfaces that cover them change. In the
process of masking, what is also revealed? Vines and graffiti
can transform architecture; tattoos, clothing, and jewelry can
become the means to explore or define ourselves. I have compiled
a database of visual language over the years that contains everything
from historical accounts to representations of mundane items,
and I develop surfaces, through layering, organizing, and massing
patterns, shapes, and colors. The challenges posed by ceramics constantly tug at and push me, and I keep returning to clay because I am curious about what I can make with it, because I love color and pattern, and because I want to create objects of beauty and meaning. |