Erica Iman

References to landscape and natural phenomena are often evident in my forms and working processes. The forms are abstracted yet resemble the geological features of their origin, such as glacial ice or weathered rock. By creating work using the material’s inherent properties and mimicking processes from nature, I am searching for the essence of the material’s structure and the qualities it naturally possesses.

I am drawn to geological formations and extreme landscapes that remind me of my own solitude and impermanence. I am interested in exploring these ideas through my work by creating solitary, abstracted or fragmented forms that are reflective of the land, processes, and materials from which they are derived.

Most of my work is hand-built, using porcelain or dark stoneware in various stages, from thick slip to dry clay. I often incorporate metals, oxides, and feldspathic glazes, as their unpredictability can be exciting. My approach is to explore form and surface in a more intuitive manner, allowing the materials to more instinctively influence the making processes and results. The materials and processes are exposed rather than being disguised, while my control over the work is less obvious, giving the finished piece the feel of a found object.

Using the materials and processes that have created and are continuously shaping the earth, I hope to relate to an elemental quality in both form and concept as a foundation for questions and ideas, as opposed to a closed system of statements and answers.

-- Erica Iman