Transmutations of emotional energy : ceramics, fibre, and flesh

Summary: This document explores the ways in which emotional energy, such as sentiments associated with depression, trauma, and anxiety, can be represented in a physical form with the mediums of ceramic and fibre sculpture. It discusses the ways in which using these materials’ properties can represent the complexities of these vibrations. When treating mood disorders or mental illness, when you are able to imagine something abstract like emotions as an image, form or object, it brings validity to it, and it brings something easy to visualize in order to work on ways to treat it. Therefore, within this document, I am questioning the ways in which this can be done with sculpture, and to create a dialogue, not for the viewer to connect with the specific emotion but rather to open up a space for contemplation of our interior lives that are often too elusive to share other than through material, abstract and affective works of art.