Kate Oggel

My primary body of work is a series of ceramic sculptures focusing on gestures of movement and fluidity. I enjoy the slow, methodical processes of hand-building as I work to shape and refine the contours, hollows and edges that comprise each piece. My recent work peels back the glaze layer to celebrate natural, unglazed surfaces as a direct link to material and touch.

Niches in the work become places of protection, metaphorically embracing solitude or sound. Soft contours invite touch by calling to mind water-smoothed stone or skin. My work references the lexicon of change in nature, much as a snow bank reshaped by wind becomes a new kind of sculptural landscape. Transitory experiences can be both preserved in memory and gone. I am fascinated by the contrast between the weightlessness of these ephemeral references and the earthy solidity of clay.