Danielle Ike
Follow
Artist Statement
In my artistic practice I work with photography and hand-built ceramics. The digital photographs are printed onto inkjet paper ranging from five by seven inches to twenty-two by seventeen inches long. The ceramic vases and vessels are made from a groggy stoneware clay body, fired to two thousand three hundred- and fifty-degrees fahrenheit and covered in an iron brown or light creamy blue glaze. The concepts behind the work I create deal with the sense of home, comfort, issues of body confidence and self-confidence. In order to build upon these concepts, I am using my current apartment and my own body as guides and reference points.
The photographic work I create has been strongly influenced by the work of Francesca Woodman and Imogen Cunningham. Woodman deals with issues of the female form and very successfully positions her body in the photograph as an object or a moving part of the world. Her self-portraits strongly influence my own in positioning and the seclusion she creates in her work. Cunningham created beautiful botanical prints that influence the light and shadows I capture in my home space. The way she can capture the light with different flora creates a very soft and warm feeling that emanates from them, and I will be creating that same feeling. The ceramic works I create are not influenced by any ceramicists, but they are influenced by my photographic work. These vases and vessels will be bodily but will offer this up in a more abstract sense. They will have a bumpy texture that remains soft and will be covered in a dark brown glaze and some in a light, creamy blue glaze. The installation portion of my show will be composed so that the viewer has an overwhelming sense of space, but as they come closer to the work the space becomes less and less apparent as the two works begin to interact and blend together. Texture and softness are very important to both mediums to create the feelings of warmth and an invitation into my home and work. The ceramic work is a direct reflection of my body and the comfort I have with my body whereas the photographs actively depict the spaces I feel comfortable in.
As an artist I am creating photographs that document light and shadows in my living space and ceramic vases and vessels that mimic the body in different aspects. The photographs will serve to appeal to a sense of home, comfort and warmth while being inviting for the viewer. Both of the mediums I work in will create a general space of invitation to allow the viewers to look closer and stay with the works longer. The ceramic vases and vessels serve as my self-portraits in an abstract way that is subtle and pulls the viewer in to look longer. Overall, my work creates a space of solace and safety, allowing those who view my work to be comforted by the imagery they see, and the vessels created in conjunction with the photographs.
![A small cylindrical vase is presented with a light creamy blue glaze that is almost white.](_images/01_danielleike-660x517.jpg)
Thigh // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 9 X 5 1/2 X 18 inches
Stomach // Fired stoneware, iron brown tenmoku // 20 X 23 ½ X 43 inches
Leg // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 14 X 5 ¾ X 20 inches
![A vessel with an ovular top opening and a collapsed top portion vaguely resembling breast covered in a creamy blue white glaze.](_images/02_danielleike-660x440.jpg)
Breasts // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 14 ½ X 19 X 36
Suck it In // Fired Stoneware, iron brown tenmoku // 12 ¾ X 4 X 16 ½
![A tall vessel that has a cylinder bottom portion, then flattens out and widens into a shape resembling some shoulders. Around the midsection of where the ribs would be there is a bump around the shape meant to resemble breath coming in covered in a dark brown almost black glaze.](_images/03_danielleike-660x771.jpg)
Breath // Fired Stoneware, iron brown tenmoku // 20 X 11 ½ X 24
Shoulders // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 11 X 6 X 20
![A large vessel that resembles a stomach on the front portion and a spinal dip on the back covered in a creamy blue/ white glaze.](_images/04_danielleike-660x468.jpg)
Torso // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 13 X 10 X 30
Rolls // Fired stoneware, iron brown tenmoku // 12 X 10 ¼ X 29
![A large vase with a swell like the diaphragm opening and a long, tall neck that connects like a human neck covered in a dark brown black glaze.](_images/05_danielleike-660x632.jpg)
Chest // Fired stoneware, iron brown tenmoku // 17 X 15 ½ X 29 ½ inches
Cheeks // Fired stoneware, rutile blue glaze // 9 X 6 X 17 ½ inches
![In the center of the photo a woman bends down to turn off the lamp in the living room, she has a white shirt one, a yellow hair tie, and the background has a painting on the wall.](_images/06_danielleike-660x989.jpg)
Untitled (turn off the light) // Digital inkjet print on glossy paper // 8 X 10 inches
![In the middle of the photograph is a dark wood bedpost with green sheets hanging off to the side. The light hits the bedpost towards the top, the floor is white and there are white curtains on the left. At the back of the picture is a dark nightstand with various trinkets on it.](_images/07_danielleike-660x440.jpg)
Untitled (cold sunny morning bedroom) // Digital inkjet print on glossy paper // 22 X 17 inches
![In the center of the photograph is a woman sitting in a large chair with mint cushions, a blanket is on her lap. She has a navy shirt on and the light from the lamp next to her casts a shadow across half her face. She leans to the left with her head on her hand.](_images/08_danielleike-660x989.jpg)
Untitled (relax in the comfy chair) // Digital inkjet print on glossy paper // 8 X 10 inches
![In the center is a girl in a white hoodie, navy pants and navy slipper socks on. In front of her is a bowl of spaghetti O’s, some white bread, her glasses and phone. In her hand is the remote for the TV. She lounges in an old looking mustard velvet chair.](_images/09_danielleike-660x989.jpg)
Untitled (lunch time) // Digital inkjet print of glossy paper // 8 X 10 inches
![A minty kitchen is pictured with the white stove in the corner, a black metal pot rack is above the stove with kitchen mitts, potholders, pots and pans are hanging down. Sitting on the stove is a small cast iron pan and cooking spray on the top of the stove.](_images/10_danielleike-660x440.jpg)
Untitled (kitchen setup after breakfast) // Digital inkjet print on glossy paper // 22 X 17 inches