Area of Research: Ceramics
Ceramicist Randall Moody examines ideas of memory and humanity’s passage through the continuum of time. He creates both wheel-thrown functional works and hand-built sculptures. His utilitarian works embrace earthy, neutral colors and textures reminiscent of the dirt and water of his grandfather’s farm in Northwest Florida. In his recent porcelain sculptures, Moody explores the passage from life to death in the form of boat imagery. The artist believes that death is not an end; rather, it is simply the transition from one state to another, a transition that every human experiences. Because many cultures associate water and boat imagery with this transition, Moody combines elements of boats from various historical and cultural sources to create archetypal forms. The black and white coloration the artist employs in turn refers to mourning rituals and the traditional practice of scrimshaw, in which sailors once made carvings on whalebones and then inked the etched lines. Drenched with texture and pattern, Moody’s bone-like porcelain boats serve as both metaphors for passage into the afterlife and symbols of cultural commonalities.
-SL
Untitled, 2012, porcelain, 14 x 6 x 9”
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