“The past few months during the onset of the pandemic have been a time for me to hunker down in my studio for long hours each day, as well as to explore new materials and creative ways to escape the tedium of lockdown. As art imitates life, my current work reflects what is happening in the world around me. With the virus looming, the ceramic sculptures I’ve created since March seem to be, in a very metaphorical way, about conquering aggression and challenge (“Monkey on My Back”, Got the Bull by Its Tail”). They are presently drying slowly in my studio as they await firing in the kiln and additional intricate graphite pencil drawing on their surfaces.
As the pandemic forced schools to shut down, it was not always possible for certain media, such as ceramics, to move from the studio to online classes. I needed to switch gears from the usual figurative ceramic sculpture class I had been teaching at Harvard Ceramics and offer a “non-clay” class to accommodate home work spaces. In an effort to encourage students to remain creative and generate ideas while they were out of the studio, I began teaching “Sculptural Ideas in Paper Construction”. Apart from enjoying the company of my students in the Zoom classroom, teaching this new material has expanded the creative scope of my studio practice and pushed me to think in exciting new ways. It’s been an unexpected and delightful journey with my students during a time when we’ve all needed to stay close to home.”
-Claudia Olds Goldie
