Ceramics Monthly: What do you think is the role of a maker within our current culture, and how do you think you contribute to it?
Noemi Iglesias Barrios: It is important for makers to know traditional ceramic methods and use them to generate a more contemporary discourse. Learning the basic and more complex techniques and understanding through testing material qualities and limits enables makers to develop a language within a medium and express ideas using a range of diverse outcomes.
Within my work, I introduce the technique of industrial floral production to outline the current commodification of falling in love. Through this technique, I also explore how emotional patterns are socially assumed as commercial icons to produce a romantic utopia, transforming sentimental experiences into consumerist strategies.
CM: How do you make decisions about which forms and color palette to use in each of your pieces?
NIB: I introduce performative processes as a starting point in most of my works, so form and color are not the first things I think about. I normally go through immaterial methods, compiling situations in order to mold or define a set of possible results, creating the environment for a constant circulation of knowledge. Then, when the times comes to develop the piece, I usually keep it white and unglazed.
If, for conceptual reasons, I need to change the appearance of the surface, I add some high-temperature colored stain to the porcelain body as a reflection or suggestion of a particular direction of meaning, concept, or action.
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Noemi Iglesias Barrios, Langreo, Spain
Ceramics Monthly: What do you think is the role of a maker within our current culture, and how do you think you contribute to it?
Noemi Iglesias Barrios: It is important for makers to know traditional ceramic methods and use them to generate a more contemporary discourse. Learning the basic and more complex techniques and understanding through testing material qualities and limits enables makers to develop a language within a medium and express ideas using a range of diverse outcomes.
Within my work, I introduce the technique of industrial floral production to outline the current commodification of falling in love. Through this technique, I also explore how emotional patterns are socially assumed as commercial icons to produce a romantic utopia, transforming sentimental experiences into consumerist strategies.
CM: How do you make decisions about which forms and color palette to use in each of your pieces?
NIB: I introduce performative processes as a starting point in most of my works, so form and color are not the first things I think about. I normally go through immaterial methods, compiling situations in order to mold or define a set of possible results, creating the environment for a constant circulation of knowledge. Then, when the times comes to develop the piece, I usually keep it white and unglazed.
If, for conceptual reasons, I need to change the appearance of the surface, I add some high-temperature colored stain to the porcelain body as a reflection or suggestion of a particular direction of meaning, concept, or action.
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