Adrienne Eliades
Vancouver, Washington

Website
www.adrienneeliades.com

Email
adrienne.eliades@gmail.com

Artist Statement
Growing up, I often wandered my father’s restaurants and hotels while my parents worked long hours. I cultivated a good understanding of the nuances of dining, a time for communication and bonding. I knew food both vital to life and as the source of my family’s living. Food has long been the inspiration for my art practice, which focuses on the act of commensality, or eating together. The daily relationships individuals have with food are an opportunity for interaction of slow food with slow design. From tableware to presentation vessels, my work is a channel for connecting elements of the social dining practice. People gather round to fulfill a common humanistic need to feed the physical body and social soul.
My work is design-focused, functional tableware for the staging and serving of shared food. I use a combination of wheel throwing and handbuilding techniques to construct porcelain forms with streamline silhouettes characterized by clean lines and gentle organic curves. The smooth surfaces alternate between gem-like areas of gloss and sugar-like satin matte glazes. This dichotomy is inviting to both sight and touch.

I am focused on sharing—of a meal, of the handmade object, of a dialogue. It is my desire to expand interests in what the food is served on as much as the food itself. My work is a catalyst to encourage connection with one another and the food we eat. As I see it, the act of offering food is one of the basic roots of all relationships. My intention is to blur the lines among object making, presentation, and community engagement with handmade ceramics.