2019 Emerging Artist: Paige Wright Ceramics Monthly

Appears in the May 2019 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

Paige Wright, Portland, Oregon

Rounded, elongated shoulders and necks, built through the repeated motion of dragging and pinching clay, yield to delicately rendered facial features: pursed lips, an upward gaze, or flared nostrils. These areas of refinement contrasted with the hurried and heavy construction of their suggestive supports create intense interest and an opportunity for empathy.

Paige Wright renders memories, immortalizing significant people in her life in clay as an act of safekeeping. Like a memory (or, perhaps, a dream) the figures waver in and out of focus, and are subjected to embellishment. They are captured in an essential expression, then morphed and adorned. As a viewer engaging with these figures, one is tasked with deciphering their adornment—monochromatic chains, colorful medals and buttons of sorts, metallic accents—in the course of making connections. These additions spark curiosity and bring forward notions of merit, consequence, and symbol.