2022 Grad Show

jam

AUArts Grad Show JAM-R-PROFILEIMAGE-01

Drawing

showandsale.ca/collections/jam

jam is an interdisciplinary artist graduating with distinction from the Alberta University of the Arts. majoring in drawing and minoring in ceramics, their work features a ritualistic use of the spiral as a grounding point for her various material explorations in clay and paper, driven by a constant search for moments of reflection and emotional release - the resulting installation-based work embodies dualistic themes of strength and fragility, highlighting the often tension-filled relationship between her body and the ways it takes up space as a queer, neurodivergent person healing from trauma.

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untitled ("and do they speak to you? cause they speak to me too / the pressure and the panic, you push your body through"), 2022.
the remnants of paper drawings once manipulated through the addition of uncontrollable amounts of water and a spiral of thin, compressed line work that grows out from the center of the paper, hang in a set of 9. after being coated with a porcelain slip, they were fired once to burn away the drawings, and then a second time to 1223 degrees Celcius, resting face down on top of a spread of spiraling seashells, in the process taking their form and a soft flash of shiny glaze.

(i am the same, im the same, im trying to change)

untitled ("i am the same, im the same, im trying to change"), 2022
soda fired ceramic tile mosaic

ritual for release (3)

12 minutes, 20 seconds.
an intimate portal into the ritualistic process of removing dead ends to allow for new growth. at its core functioning as an allegory for my healing process, a process defined by the need to untangle the strands of emotion from my past I continuously find cycling through my present - a process that is propelled forward by the transformation that takes place in the refusal to cling to repetitive patterns that are worthy of release.

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untitled (i worry this is how i'm always gonna feel / nothing lasts, i know the deal), 2021
nesting stoneware vessels made of wheel-thrown parts attached together through coil building, elevated to eye level and sitting in a pool of water / suspended body-sized watercolor drawing

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untitled (the gaps in my teeth / and all that I can cling too), 2022
five stoneware vessels transform into a stable landscape of quiet connection points and cavity-like in-between spaces as they rest on top of a spread of smaller, manipulated paper works - a collection of intimately unstable objects, existing as interconnected relics of the ritualistic material conversations taking place in the studio.

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untitled ("what is love? can the child in my heart rise above? / can i sail through the changing ocean tides? can i handle the seasons of my life?"), 2022.

this performance piece features the remnants of a paper drawing manipulated through the addition of uncontrollable amounts of water and a spiral of thin, compressed line work that grows out from the center of the paper. after being coated with a porcelain slip, it was fired once to burn away the drawing, and then a second time to 1223 degrees Celcius, while resting face down on top of a spread of spiraling seashells, taking their form and a soft flash of calcium glaze in the process.

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