Crafting is an act inextricable from the body. The maker is ever present through form and clay is especially physical. Whether the visible fingerprint is left impressed or is smoothed away, clay remains a medium of the hand. In Clay Bodies at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Sandra Alfoldy has curated a brief reflection on this physical relationship. Here the figure is reflected in the objects on display, both in the presence of the maker as well as a narrative of the body as celestial and mythical. Figures dance on painted surfaces and are reflected in curves of stoneware or perfectly sculpted porcelain. 
Shary Boyle, Live Old, 2010, porcelain, enamel, gold lustre, glass beads
The works come from a span of time from the 1950s to the present day. A large and simple Ashtray by Pablo Picasso sits next to a small crop of Ernst Lorenzen’s delicate mushrooms sculpted in thin white clay. Almost all the objects are grouped and encased in glass. It feels like a museum collection, hovering as ever in-between object and art. In this context at least, craft is not able to break from that mould. This feels like a strange choice given Alfoldy’s teachings and influence on contemporary craft discourse.
At the center of the room, enshrined in its own large case is an exquisite elephant-headed figure dripping with beads and rising out of sculpted water. The piece is Live Old by Shary Boyle. She is a powerhouse of exquisite skill and this is a beautiful work of mythical narrative. The delicate figure is slightly mottled with the remnants of Boyle’s hand. The clay holds the story of being shaped. The figure stretches its hands out; glass beads drape between tiny fingers. It is as sensual as its medium allows.
Clay is of the body. It slips around fingertips and runs fluid with water. Clay Bodies flows with that simple statement.
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia: http://www.artgalleryofnovascotia.ca/
Clay Bodies continues until December 4.
Anna Taylor is an artist, crafter, and organizer sitting on the board of the Halifax Crafters Society. She is Akimblog’s Halifax correspondent and can be followed on Twitter @TaylorMadeGoods.
↧
Clay Bodies at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
↧