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ORNAMENT
By
Stephanie Jonsson
This paper presents academic and practice based research. Exploring the
they are applied in the research and studio. The role of ornament in Modernism,
relation to fine art, and illustrates the shifting nature of this relationship in the
work of artists who use craft mediums. The association of decoration and craft
with the feminine and “women’s work” is also explored. The methodology for the
methodology describes the use of both craft materials, such as ceramics and
textiles, and fine art materials as an ornate responses to Minimalism. The paper
responses.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………………… ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..………………………………………………………….. vi
INTRODUCTION ..………………………………………………………………………1
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CHAPTER THREE: CRAFT
SUMMARY ……………………………………………………………………………. 41
WORKS CITED……………………………………………………………………….. 43
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List of Figures
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Acknowledgements
I would like to take this moment to acknowledge the people who have
supervisor, Julie York, for her extraordinary feedback and invaluable perception
in the studio. Her guidance was a welcome contribution and her constructive
criticism and caring approach made me a stronger artist. I would also like to
thank Karolle Wall, Randy Lee Cutler and Carol Gigliotti for their immense
kindness and valuable input with the written thesis. I would like to thank my
and generative feedback and honest critiques. I am grateful for Elyse Brazel, who
to Dale Gamble for his energy, enthusiasm, and constant moral support and
encouragement. I would like to extend gratitude to Steven Hall, who was very big-
Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends for all of their substantial
generosity and support. To my loving parents, who have always encouraged and
what it’s like to write a thesis and commit oneself to the pursuit of research. To
partner, Nathan, who never gave up on me, and had unwavering faith in me
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Introduction
ecologies, and ornament inspired by nature. The research produced in and out of
work through the lens of my own practice. The ideas and research in this essay
are informed by my thesis project, and it is for this reason that I discuss specific
parts of the body of work created at Emily Carr University throughout the essay.
tendril of a fennel head fern. Organic forms have been utilized in past works, but
during this degree the emphasis has shifted to focus on the ornament inherent in
natural structures.
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Chapter One: Methodology/Method
disciplines that have been historically associated with craft, such as ceramics and
textiles.
appreciate the formal qualities in an artwork first and foremost. When I refer to
the word formal, I mean the purely visual aspects of the work such as colour,
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1
Medium specificity holds that "the unique and proper area of competence" for a form of art
corresponds with the ability of an artist to manipulate those features that are "unique to the
nature" of a particular medium, a term that was popularized by Clement Greenberg in his 1960
essay “Modernist Painting”.
2
Modernism, arguably occurring from around 1910 to the mid nineteen seventies, is a term that is
widely debated. Few scholars argue that it began before 1860 and some believe it ended at its
height in 1945. I am using the term to apply to work made between Modernism’s beginnings
during the years of 1860-1910, and maintaining that its height was in the 1960s and 70s. It was
between the 1940s and the 1960s that what is referred to as 'the modernist paradigm' was
beginning to be conceptualized, most notably by the Frankfurt School theoretician Theodor
Adorno and the American intellectual and art critic Clement Greenberg. When I speak of
Modernism, I am most often referring to Greenbergian modernism. For a brief description of the
similarities and differences between Greenberg’s and Adorno’s modernisms, see Petter Osborne,
“Adorno and the Metaphysics of Modernism: The Problem of a “Postmodern Art”, Ed. Andrew
Benjamin, The Problems of Modernity, (Routledge: London, 1989), p. 36.!
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shape, line, and texture. I was trained as a Formalist, putting these values first
and foremost above any context or content in the work. This is still important to
me, but it is no longer of primary importance. While I still make artwork in which
the visual properties are taken into great consideration, I now believe the artist’s
intent and the concept or content of the work, aside from formal qualities, also
criticize the discipline itself, not in order to subvert it but in order to entrench it
more firmly in its area of competence (Greenberg 85)”. While I agree that certain
mediums have their own strengths and “characteristic methods”, I tend to create
work that denies concrete categorization and subverts the idea of medium
displayed as painting, like in Violet Unfurled, (Figure 5), for example. The format
is both square and on the wall, two painterly conventions, but in addition the work
still left with me an appreciation of the spiritual material practice that was
about Matisse and Picasso and how they “also appear[ed] to have felt that unless
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altogether”(Greenberg 792). Greenberg’s vision favored these artists because
Figure 1: Stephanie Jonsson, Leukocytes’ Nuptials, 2012. Mixed Media. 36" x 36" x 24" Photo:
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During the creation of Solar Powered Plastic Plant (Figure 2), and
the material and my bodily experience. While creating Solar Powered Plastic
Plant (Figure 2), throwing on the wheel meant that both arms were engaged, as I
was pushing hard against the clay and conforming it to my will. These actions
were repetitive: I threw one bowl-like form on the wheel, then another and
another. Each one was slightly different, unique in its imperfections, but similar in
its basic vessel form. As I was manipulating the clay, I was constantly aware of
my body. The strain on my wrists and forearms quickly became painful, and the
time, my body became one with the clay, and I started to relax into the process of
Figure 2: Stephanie Jonsson, Solar Powered Plastic Plant, 2011 (detail). Ceramic, spray paint
36" x 24" x 2". Photo: Stephanie Jonsson. Used by permission of the artist.
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Being embodied in my artistic experience allowed me to reflect on my
Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre are perhaps the most widely read
She agreed with Merleau-Ponty and Sartre that “to be present in the world
implies strictly that there exists a body which is at once a material thing in the
world and a point of view towards the world” (De Beauvoir 39). The fundamental
essence of her account, however, was that this bodily awareness was different
“women are somehow more biological, more corporeal, and more natural than
men” (Grosz 14). These gendered stereotypes are not often useful in
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When Simone De Beauvoir wrote The Second Sex in 1949, the second
wave of feminism was just beginning. It was in this book that she examined the
have been marginalized for centuries, and although western culture has made
great strides in women’s equality, I would argue that women are often still
towards methods and materials that are in a peripheral area to more popular and
Modernist artists, designers, and critics alike, and especially in the case of my
Modernist professors.4
In Modernism, fine art that is appreciated purely for its beauty or other
aesthetic virtues is separate and different from making that produces items for
practical use, such as pottery, furniture, or clothing. The latter was assigned the
title “crafts,” and while their usefulness and skill-requirements were applauded,
the creation of a craft object was, and by some critics still is, considered
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3!Due to the length restriction of this thesis, I do not have time to explore an in-depth analysis of
feminism’s history and current status. Some suggested reading on feminism in the arts includes:
Wark, Jayne. "The Origins of Feminist Art." Radical Gestures: Feminism and Performance Art in
North America. Montreal: McGill-Queens UP, 2006. 27-57; as well as Robbins, Bruce. "The
Sweatshop Sublime." PMLA: Publication of the Modern Language Association of America 1.1
(2002): 84-98.!
4
Some exceptions would include the critic Harold Rosenberg, and (arguably) ceramic artists
Peter Voulkos, Kenneth Price, and Robert Arneson. Rosenberg’s views on craft are discussed in
more depth in Chapter 3.
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The importance of the fine art/craft division for the valuation of women's
males are also rejected from the canon of fine art, historically the objects that
were created by women were marginalized and the traditional domestic arts were
not seen on equal footing with fine arts. This is why there are so few great female
sculpture, for example, because women’s place was thought to be in the home
producing domestic wares. These objects were thrust into the category of “craft”,
and the presence of women in the visual arts arena during this time was not as
Society tends to marginalize both women and their work. Sadie Plant
notes that “weaving, widely associated with women, has always fallen between
the arts and the sciences, and has rarely been taken seriously” (Plant 256).
Women’s engagement with textiles and the innovations that resulted from this
involvement exceeded the requirement of just providing clothing and shelter for
the family (Plant 257). There is a certain joy involved in the process of weaving.
Plant notes, “there is an obsessive, addictive quality to the spinning of yarn and
the weaving of cloth; a temptation to get fixated and locked into processes which
run away with themselves and those drawn into them” (Plant 257). This addictive
with my body. The repetitive act of making similar forms allows me to tune into
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my physical being, creating an acute awareness that comes from a sensual
awakening.
2012), sand wood (such in The Architecture of Ornament, 2011), or throw clay on
Numerical Control) machine, the pottery wheel, or the sewing machine to guide
work, I attempt to fuse these two aesthetics into a hybrid practice that privileges
Figure 3: Stephanie Jonsson, Untitled Wall Piece, 2011. Mixed media, dimensions
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In the work Untitled Wall Piece (Figure 3), the distinction between the
handmade and the machine is explored. In making this piece, I utilized wood
placed the wood pieces over a slab of clay, and traced out the shapes into the
clay, using the wood as a guide. In the resulting forms you can see the flaws and
trace of the hand very clearly. The edges are rough and bumpy as I chose not to
smooth them down, in order to retain evidence of transformation and process and
the material particularities of each medium. This evidence of process was further
enhanced since many of the pieces broke as they were shrinking and drying,
which gave the sharp edges a fractured, ancient aesthetic. I chose to use these
white glaze giving them a fragile and delicate appearance. In this piece, I allow
intended to mount the work on the gallery wall. I decided to incorporate vinyl as a
these two aesthetics in close proximity, a noticeable distinction between the laser
and tracing. While working with various materials, I intuitively place shapes,
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colours, and textures together to see if they are formally harmonious. Often the
studio, and I will have the impulse to combine them together. For this reason, I
Figure 4: Stephanie Jonsson, Mutant Nucleus, 2011 (detail). Ceramics, fabric, spray
paint. 6.5” x 26” x 26 “. Photo: Stephanie Jonsson. Used by permission of the artist.
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perceptive skill is at work when I explore the world for source imagery. When I
was pursuing my undergraduate degree, I lived beside the forest and would take
my rabbit for walks every day, sketchbook in hand, and draw the forms I found in
the forest. Sometimes the things I found were rotting and dead. Other times, they
were blooming and flourishing. Through all of this looking, I have found the most
compelling and eye-catching forms exist in nature - they are attractive and I am
artistically engage with these organic embellishments. In the same way that
natural forms can be both alluring and disarming, ornament appropriated from
nature can contain a certain kitsch quality to it. Augustus Pugin, who plays a
Gothic revival, was one of the first people who endeavored to characterize what
meaning, probably because it’s basically linked with the idea of bad-taste which
remains always the same. Kitsch is the epitome of all that is spurious in
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the life of our times. Kitsch pretends to demand nothing of its customers
This quote gets at the origin of kitsch, but the meaning has changed over
the years, and what Greenberg meant by kitsch is very different from more
that its purchaser believes endows him with an air of richness, elegance, or
symbolizing works created to cater to popular demand only and entirely for
some ways, my work is not extreme or ironic enough to be kitsch, as is the case
with artists Jeff Koons, Miriam Schapiro, Robert Kushner, and most of the artists
contemporary objects or images that are already kitsch and use them as source
of fabrication of mass-produced objects (in the case of the CNC work). Kitsch is
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practice and consider why decoration and ornamentation often fall into this
meanings for various cultures. In Victorian times, for example, interior design was
suffocating in its clutter and overly decorative surfaces. This phenomenon was
coined by Italian scholar Mario Praz. The decoration served to ward off evil, as
the devil could get into any architectural space that was not adorned. Horror
Vacui as a visual phenomenon has also been associated with “outsider” art, as is
overwhelm the viewer with, not unlike the art from the Victorian age.
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something necessary and functional, and there remains at least the
ornament, which has been appropriated from its original source and manipulated
ornament of a specific culture, as Joyce Kozloff and Neil Forrest are (their
contributions are discussed in more depth later on). I am more concerned with
the ornament that has a traditional cultural source, but has been transformed,
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Chapter Two
Figure 5: Stephanie Jonsson, Violet Unfurled, 2010. Ceramic, plywood, spray paint. 60” x 60” x
2”. Photo: Adam Stenhouse. Used by permission of the artist.
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Often the terms ornament and decoration are used interchangeably, and
some even claim that ornament and decoration are synonymous (Brolin). A more
they refer to related but are separate things. Art historian John Kresten
Jespersen notes that the Oxford English Dictionary offers a clear distinction
space.
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6!Of course, Jespersen is speaking in the context of architecture, but decoration embellishes
many other things such as objects and images.
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Perhaps a deeper, more rigorous definition of these terms is in order.
as
…separable from the functional shape of the object. If you want to know
If the object remains structurally intact, and recognizable, and can still
perform its function, the feature is decoration and may well be ornament.
(Trilling 21)
distinct motifs, orderly and predictable even at their most intricate” (Trilling 9).
Amy Goldin notes that “pattern has traditionally been used to embellish a given
itself” (Goldin 12). The same can be said of ornament and decoration, they are
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section considers the Modernist agenda and how it rendered ornament, pattern
spray paint. Variable dimensions. Photo: Elisa Ferrari. Used by permission of the artist.
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The modernist rejection of ornament has taught architects, designers, and
critics, especially of the last decade, to appreciate “the beauty of the necessary:
and superfluous.
1908, Loos published the essay “Ornament and Crime.” As the manifesto's title
design. In this and many other essays he contributed to the elaboration of a body
equate ornament with crime, and says “the evolution of culture is synonymous
with the removal of ornament from utilitarian objects” (Loos 168). He asserts that
through the fact that ornament inflicts serious injury on people’s health, on the
national budget and, hence, on cultural evolution. His argument is primarily one
of economics: “The ornamentor has to work twenty hours to achieve the income
architectural critic and writer best known for his book Theory and Design in the
First Machine Age (1960), suggests that Loos’ essay was a significant influence
that
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it is impossible now to imagine how the Modern Movement might have
looked as a decorated style, but it might have been just that, had not its
So strong was Loos’ sentiment, that few have escaped the conversion and
many architects and designers are still ornamentally paralyzed more than a
century later.
provoke the viewer to re-examine their relationship to ornament and its relevance
in our society today. In many ways, I have posed what seems to be a kind of
nineteen eighties or nineteen nineties set of questions (from the Pattern and
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2.3 Ornament and Gender
and books on women and gender in design, fashion, and ceramics, notes that
during the early decades of the twentieth century that a decorative vocabulary
social, political and cultural anxiety about gender. In particular there was
widespread fear in the early decades of the century that British culture was
the feminine were omitted from art and architecture. Feminist art historian
advancement of Modernist art in the early 1900’s. She also points out, however,
that for artists like Kandinsky, this relationship to the decorative included an
unspoken peril that the abstract, formal language in progress would be read as
‘decorative’ and consequently lack content (Chadwick 237)7. To take this point
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7!Ironically, Kandinsky reproductions are now found as decoration in restaurants.
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further, author Christopher Reed argues that in addition to the fear of decoration,
This anxiety around all things feminine and decorative was present in my
my practice and important for me to respond to. Artists have reacted to the past
and to their own personal experiences throughout history, and the rationale
form in nature”.
Ralph Waldo Emerson states that “Nature, in the common sense, refers to
essences unchanged by man; space, the air, the river, the leaf (Emerson 9)”.
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This nineteenth century view of nature was idealistic, representing nature as a
perfect utopia. It also assumed that humans and things made by them are
considered unique and distinct from nature, and perhaps the source of nature’s
decline. Contemporary Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek does
and then they explode again. He suggests that, as humans, “We should not
forget that we are not abstract engineers, theorists who just exploit nature – that
of these things. My work is not nature, but it uses imagery inspired by nature. In
things that are manmade, and consent to Emerson’s approach to defining nature.
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This is an important distinction in the work, as Emerson’s approach is more
binary, and subsequently more defined and less complex. My material practice,
however, is a hybrid of natural imagery and manmade imagery, not one or the
other.
world to their own end. Nature throughout history has been a source of inspiration
for artists, designers, and architects alike. David Bret notes that phrases such as
the “laws of nature”, and “the laws of growth”, and “nature’s plan”, are found
It can be argued that, as far as ornament may stray from natural form, it is
ultimately derived from it. Lewis F. Day in his book, Nature in Ornament (1902),
describes how various trees and plants recall ornament in their structure:
Nature seems to neglect no opportunity; the very scars left on the stems of
in the scarred stalk of an old cabbage you may see pattern. In the case of
the palm, the remains of the leaves of years past resolve themselves still
more plainly into ornament; and for once the Roman sculptors, who saw
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palm-trees growing about them, adopted the idea in the decoration of their
The patterns (or repetition of ornament) that natural forms engender have
been an inspiration for British designers for many centuries, and in particular the
early nineteenth century (Bret 38). Leading botanists formed a part of design
teaching called “art-botany”. This was the study of plant forms for the purpose of
decoration, in particular the researching of plant forms and laws that preside over
the character of branches and stems (Bret 38). The study of decoration and
artists in the 1850s were at an advantage if they also possessed the skills of
practical botanists.
Botany by the Designer”, published in 1850, urged his students to pay close
attention to the form of leaves of various plants, as well as the textures and
This did not lead to a naturalistic rendering of the plant in question, but rather an
amalgamation of all plants. According to Redgrave, the “true form of the leaf of a
plant is only to be found by comparing many leaves” (Redgrave 98). In this way,
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the stylistic rendering of the leaf and other forms of nature moved away from
Over time, architects, designers, and artists have started to look less to
comments that during the early nineteenth century, designers were not interested
searching for a form that spoke to a universal plant. Victorian architects and
theorists including A. W. N. Pugin, John Ruskin, Owen Jones, and William Morris
Design of 1856 that “a plant is said to be conventionally treated when the natural
in which I am interested.
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Figure 7: Stephanie Jonsson, Solar Powered Plastic Plant, 2011. Ceramic, spray paint 36" x 24"
x 2". Photo: Stephanie Jonsson. Used by permission of the artist.
In Solar Powered Plastic Plant (Figure 7), a work I produced in 2011, the
stenciled spray paint is a striking bright green, a colour that would not normally
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be found in nature. The bulbous ceramic elements appear similarly round but not
uniform, as if they were a naturally occurring structure like a wasp’s nest or coral.
The vines and tendrils that surround the structure are stylized and conform to a
(logical) symmetry that neatly frames the three dimensional element of the work.
with the organic splatter of spray paint where the form meets the edge of the
stencil. The object is at once referencing nature and things fabricated by humans,
“Replacing the Myth of Modernism”, originally published in 1993 (5). First, Metcalf
are all disciplines specific to a medium and its mastery. Third, craft is defined by
clothing, furniture, pottery, etc. Importantly, Metcalf has a limiting statement here:
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craft in his definition does not include manufactured objects like small appliances,
airplanes, or telephone equipment. Fourth, craft is defined by its past. Each of the
craft disciplines has a multicultural history that is recorded mostly in the form of
objects, many from societies that have long since disappeared (5).
craft, or vice versa, namely the continued marginalization of craft within many
cultural institutions (Alfoldy xxi ). Garth Clark asks whether or not ceramics was
fine arts majority in the first half of the twentieth century. In his book, Shards, he
(Clark 330). Furthermore, Clark wonders, if ceramics was never a part of the
Avant-Garde of the fine arts mainstream, then why was it not included in this
dialogue? The lack of critical writing in the case of some well-known ceramic
artists such as Kim Dickey is evidence that craft has a marginalized position in
the years. In my own practice, I have shown in both traditional fine art galleries as
well as galleries dedicated solely to craft. My work exists in a liminal space that
contemporary craft, notes that “the ‘mechanical arts’ gave way to the terms
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‘handicrafts’, ‘minor arts’, ‘lesser arts’ and ‘applied arts’, and the ideas of the
design reformers Augustus Pugin, John Ruskin and William Morris laid the
Contemporary craft discourse is still wrestling with how to situate the Modernist
criticism of Greenberg, a sworn enemy of craft. In his 1939 essay “Avant Garde
everyday objects, including utilitarian crafts, from avant-garde art (Alfoldy xx). In
the past give in, as other people have, to the notion that ceramics was largely
craft, and that craft was just craft” (Greenberg 3). He goes on to say that society
Sandra Alfoldy agrees that it is time to rethink our easy dismissal of critics
like Greenberg, and our association of crafts with all things anti-modern. She
maintains that although Greenberg, in his early writing, marginalized work that
Alfoldy, the art critic Harold Rosenberg, predominantly in his art criticism, invited
the crafts to be part of modern art discourse (xxi). In his talk, “Art and Work”,
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1964, stating that “…the fine artist and the inventive craftsman are
goes on to refer to the arts and crafts interchangeably, giving them equal footing
that often place the formal qualities of the work as secondary to the concept. I will
include specificity to material as it once did. Many contemporary artists use craft
materials in their work, demonstrating how hierarchies are less rigid. Garth Clark
asserts that there is a paradigm shift and that “the notion of a single-medium
artist is under threat” (Clark 352). Art education is in Europe and the United
States are doing away with medium specialties and changing in favour of a cross
disciplinary pluralism in which any and all media are part of the combination.
Artists who employ craft strategies and materials do not seem to be fighting
against the marginalization of craft as much as they were even ten years ago.
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setting. It was a particularly publicized event, partially due to the political actions
that followed the exhibition and the dust residue of the materials, but it proved to
be a revealing instance of the inclusion of craft into the art gallery. This
in a broader context with increasing frequency, and clay, for example, is not
interested in this phenomenon as well as the inherent friction between fine art
and craft. More recently, Metcalf’s definition of craft and its four characteristics
have shifted: now it seems that specific materials are being freed of associations
Neil Forrest, Kim Dickey, and Cal Lane are three artists who each address
ornament in their work through the use of craft mediums such as ceramics and
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Figure 8: Neil Forrest, Hiving Mesh, 1999 – 02. Mixed Media, dimensions variable. Photo: Neil
Forrest. Used by permission of the artist.
hang suspended in the air, creating both a wall and a matrix of linking elements.
His piece, Hiving Mesh (Figure 8), is generated as dimensional ornament that is
Forrest, I do not use overt architectural references, but in the example of Corner
Piece, 2011 (Figure 9), I explore how my work can fit into a specific architectural
This particular piece was built to fit into a corner perfectly. This experiment in
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was incredibly unassuming. I wanted the work to blend into the architecture and
critique the space, instead of overpowering it. The piece surprises the viewer
Figure 9: Stephanie Jonsson, Corner Piece, 2011. Concrete, ¾” x 18” x 13”. Photo: Stephanie
Jonsson. Used by permission of the artist.
definition of ornament, it asks the viewer to try imagining the ornament away.
According to Trilling, “if the object remains structurally intact, and recognizable,
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and can still perform its function, the feature is decoration and may well be
ornament” (Trilling 21). This definition becomes problematic when the ornament
is embedded into and integral to the structure of the object, and cannot be
In this way, the artist uses veiled and dimensional sculpture to alter three-
decorative surface.
constructions of artificial gardens in clay contain leaves that are not botanically
correct. Instead they are descendants of stylized leaves, such as the quatrefoil,
specific Minimalist forms. Her sculptural ceramics allude directly to Robert Morris’
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structures from 1964, Those works were derived from basic construction
ornament from its streamlined and simple sculptural forms, and Dickey's
Minimalism.
incorporate stylized forms of nature that are generic in appearance. The imagery
she uses of flora and fauna mimic nature, but the resulting sculpture has an
modular ceramic elements that are similar in size, shape and colour to create an
Figure 10, Kim Dickey, Inverted L Beam #2, 2011. Aluminum, glazed terra cotta, silicon, and
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The methodology by which Dickey employs repeated elements in her work
to construct a sculptural wall of leaves is not unlike Neil Forrest’s use of the
modular wall. While Dickey creates a solid mass of wall that is impenetrable,
field that mounts on the wall or floor. Like these examples by Forrest and Dickey,
sculptures physically rely on the walls and floors of the space, and in the case of
Finally, the last artist I would like to examine is Cal Lane. The work of Cal
Lane shifts traditionally female ornate sources such as doilies and tablecloths
onto metal tools and objects which are traditionally gendered male8. She calls to
mind all things feminine with her lace cutouts: lacemaking, cake decorating and
traditional “women’s work” (Pomerance 1). Using a plasma torch, Lane makes
lace like patterns out of rusted metal objects such as shovels, cars, or other
industrial tools and transforms them into fragile, flower-patterned cutouts (Figure
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8!Due to the word limit, I cannot go into detail on traditional gender roles and gender in my work.!
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Figure 11: Cal Lane, 5 Shovels, 2005. Oxy-acetylene cut steel shovels, dimensions variable.
Photo: Cal Lane. Used by permission of the artist.,
(Pomerance 1). The repetitive and obsessive act of tracing lace on to the metal,
then painstakingly cutting out each piece pays homage to the handmade cakes
and tablecloths that inspire her sculptures. Like Lane, my work often utilizes floral
imagery and has the same rough around the edges quality. In my practice,
decidedly feminine patterns are strongly juxtaposed against hard steel and
often repeat the same pattern over and over, cutting the imagery out of clay and
creating a stencil. Our work shares an interest in the handmade, craft, and ornate
imagery. There is a visual contradiction in Lane’s work, the rusted metal objects
are at once attractive and repulsive. In my own practice, I aim to conjure up this
kind of response, repelling the viewer with gaudy colours while simultaneously
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My practice is a response to my Modernist artistic education, celebrating a
departure from the Modernist ideals of sparing form, material, surface and
continuation of the ideas and goals set forth by Joyce Kozloff and the artists of
assembling source patterns into objects that recall aging architectural details,
are fractured and dismantled, similar to the work of Neil Forrest and Kim Dickey.
These pieces respond to the architectural elements in which they are installed,
spreading out along the length of a wall, into the corners of rooms and onto the
floor.
Figure 12: Stephanie Jonsson, 35 Ceramic Square, 2011. Ceramic, 60” x 60” Photo: Stephanie
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I have attempted here to demonstrate how the concepts of craft,
ornament, and Modernism have been embedded in my practice and how some of
these terms have shifted over time. Through an introduction to three examples of
influence (Neil Forrest, Kim Dickey and Cal Lane), I am positioning my work
Summary
thesis work has pushed the idea of adopting organic, natural forms to a more
think about how appropriating this imagery impacts the reading of the work. I am
My inquisitions into the status and history of craft have opened up a new
area of research that I was not familiar with before this degree. This has
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consequentially helped me to understand myself as a gendered visual artist
visual vocabulary in craft techniques, with a focus on the feminine and domestic
an obfuscated William Morris pattern that was transformed and altered from the
original source through a happy accident. I would like to move more towards
installations and environments that overwhelm the entire gallery space and build
craft materials and sculptural objects that hang on the wall and fall to the floor.
ornament from the past that once had a specific function, removing them from
practice have led me to delve further into ornament, which was only a small part
of my past practice. I could not have anticipated the meandering path that I have
! ! 42!! ! !
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