Bryce Boynton

I have been working with the concept of growth, not only in my creations but daily within myself as an artist, (physically, emotionally, intellectually, and morally). This is the concept of life: growth. I have an ethic to push myself into new situations so that I might develop into the person I am meant to be.

Ceramics is a true mirror for this experience. One must push the clay to its limits and allow it to grow as one would a seedling. The nature of the material allows testing but asks for nurturing. Ceramics will speak vibrantly and clearly to an artist if they develop the ear to hear it. The clay will tell what it wants, what it needs, and oftentimes the loudest cry it makes is the great plea to grow, to swell, to occupy. Clay is biologically a voluminous creature.

I work in an additive collage like methodology. I use various parts and pieces which are either hand built, or wheel thrown and altered. I use individual pieces to construct multifarious sculpture. I construct rounded vessel-like objects, sharper pointed forms, as well as soft and hard slab ornaments additions which I conglomerate into new objects. Many objects begin with a wheel thrown armature to start the shape of the form.

During the formulation of each individual piece there is a great deal of care and attention involved to make each shape, a multitude of steps spread along the course of the respective component’s drying process. Once attached and the form is complete, so begins a long process of tooling of each individual shape and their connections. This is a slow process, as twenty or more individual object attachments are amassed, affixed, tooled and cleaned all at once. While this is a laborious process, it is the utility within the craft of these actions in which I find a great deal of value.

The evolution of creation, this has mirrored the personal growth previously mentioned. The therapy of the wheel and striving for simple accomplishment through function, these sensations are what propelled me into the world of clay. Yet through the development of a relationship with clay I have found new liberties. I found a new language to speak with the clay as I changed my process from strictly wheel throwing, to throwing and altering, pushing pots to their very limits; discovering new marks and forms that are trapped within the compressed walls of a pot. This process connected my conscious and subconscious minds, and this change for the first time allowed me to do away with the utilitarian principles of pottery. Giving myself the permission to make without the regard for a function, audience, or intention. For I no longer need the gratification of utility, for it is my own utility with the medium that I receive this gratification from.