I am enamored with the direct act of working clay with my hands as a sculptor and a potter.
Many of my large wheel-thrown ceramic vessels are rooted in traditional Asian forms. I hope to make elegant yet quiet sculptural vessels with strong lines and gestures and I welcome serendipitous imperfections that arise during the throwing, glazing and firing processes. I am driven to create pure forms with a sure hand and an honest approach.
I sculpt with the same instinct for form and gesture that I have for pottery. I confront the central challenge of having something to say about people and animals, and their condition. I approach each project knowing that it will provide me with a rich opportunity to learn and care, to design, to communicate and share ideas with others, and to grow as an artist.
I have found myself immersed in portraits of the elderly to capture their dignity as well as complex states of mind. While in the hospital after cancer surgery I became taken with the idea of sculpting a newborn donkey still partially wrapped in its afterbirth sac. Designing and sculpting that hopeful and poetic scene felt to me as though I were ushering in my own renewal.
In 2018 I saw a powerful photograph of an Armenian mother and her daughters on a forced march, which triggered in me memories of stories told by female relatives who survived such a march during the Armenian Genocide in 1915. I am working on a multi-figure sculpture based on this theme.
I am a member and exhibiting artist of the National Sculpture Society.
I welcome commission inquiries via my website: stephensaxenian.com.
