Priya Thoresen, Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Contemporary abstract sculpture meets decaying grocery store shopping basket and the result is avant-garde function. The proportions of these functional forms/sculptures are in direct correlation to everyday objects, allowing them to be visually accessible to the common shopper and the perfect marriage between discarded urban trash and an upscale farmer’s market tote.

The forms’ color palettes range from a tarnished luster coating conjuring thoughts of use and abandonment to a perfect black matte finish, which may be a nod to the trendy reclaim and reuse of vintage shopping baskets. The brightly colored adornments are one part whimsy and one part design element, as Thoresen states that she references the colors found on thrift store price tags, again a nod to today’s versatile urban shopper.

The architectural framework created by the handbuilt coil grid becomes a series of hand-drawn lines once the piece is fired, each line slightly warped and wavy.

www.priyathoresen.com Instagram:@priyakt Facebook:priya.thoresen

1 Basket with yellow handles, 8 in. (20 cm) in diameter, handbuilt mid-range ceramic, polymer clay, 2017.2 Triangle basket with feet, 8 in. (20 cm) in height, handbuilt, mid-range clay, luster, polymer clay, 2018.
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Topics: Ceramic Artists
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