Degree Discipline

Month

Oil People (open access)

Oil People

My ceramics are composed of two bodies of work poised against one another, one rendered in porcelain and colored inclusion stains combined in processes rooted within the practices of laminating clay, and the other made of brutal metallic black stoneware. The first are made of landscapes and abstractly depict them, while the latter represent ways in which we consume oil literally and metaphorically. Within myself are conflicting desires for convenient access to my environment and the loss of biodiversity caused by my unsustainable use of it. This is the core of the conflict between my pieces and my intention in making work is to embody my relationship with nature as influenced by my familial context in the US. All of the vessels are designed to be functional, but to serve used motor oil instead of food or drink. If the purpose of the objects is to represent my relationship with nature and the iteration of days, then the performance of them is meant to invoke the recognition of multiform oil consumption and the effect it has on my life.
Date: May 2023
Creator: Grasham, Eric
System: The UNT Digital Library