CERAMICA BOTANICA: A Constant and Misguided Optimism

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Bridget Fairbank, "Plum," 2019

porcelaneous tile

Reception: Saturday, March 7 from 2-4pm

Artist Talk at 2:30pm

Bridget Fairbank makes pottery, installation art, and orchestrates happenings - all of which aim for the re-imagining of everyday actions and relations. Her items act sometimes as objects of irony, sometimes as objects of intimacy and sometimes as a means to an educational end. In this case the exhibition Ceramic Botanica: A Constant and Misguided Optimism does all three. The handcrafted object is now the subversive object.

Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.

See Albertan Rose, Indian Paintbrush, Goldenrod, Common Yarrow, Canola, Saskatoons, Blueberry and Sweetberry Honeysuckle. Through the still life she requests we consider their useful historical properties and their roles in our current landscape. These plants are respectively a provincial icon, metaphor for prairie fire, a token of luck, a means to staunch a bleeding wound, the industrial backbone, a cure for cough and a cure for cold etc. What is your place among them?

Please consider the ceramic material’s connection to land and commemoration when viewing this work. Clay is the most long-lasting archival material we use. Will the plants represented here take over or will these small layered, abstracted personal expressions be the souvenir of a perished plant? Fairbank proposes a compromise: coexistence by attentive interaction. Rather than translating the specific these tiles are meant to be plant-like, expressive, personal and joyful, a reminder that we are not apart from, but a part of nature. A reminder that growth is possible.

Bridget Fairbank (Fire Towers in Northern Alberta & Nelson, BC) is a relentless maker. Her ceramics connects utilitarian pottery, installation, performance and painting: asking a viewer to engage bodily in an idea. Her art pieces work to implicate and empower a viewer through sensory enjoyment often including taste, touch and smell. These qualities are exemplified in her recent MFA exhibition Foodscapes: From Seed to Mouth, at the University of Florida.

A Canadian born in the mountains of beautiful British Columbia, her childhood was spent exploring nature and making her own fun. Perhaps this is why her work is often project based. Since childhood, she has traveled the world making art and seeking education. These experiences led her to value traditional hand crafts and also embrace technology in the globalized world. She believes strongly in community, living cultural knowledge and the power of the mundane to shape life.

Top Image: Plum by Bridget Fairbank. Porcelaneous tile.