Aimee Marcinko ( She/Her )

My work references ambiguous biological life, unveiling hidden patterns of intelligent communication. From microscopic cellular organisms to diverse plant life to amphibious egg sacks, I develop an array of indistinctly life-like forms. I raise questions about the innate connection between humankind’s perception and one’s natural environment in a world where communication has become vital for survival. My sculptural forms and functional vessels generate a sensory experience inspired by illusion as a form of communication with nature.

Working with a combination of paper clay and translucent porcelain, I slip cast, throw, and handbuild spherical forms that I sculpt with a web-like skin. On the insides of the forms, I cut patterns into the clay that I find from naturally forming sources of communication, camouflage, and physics such as rippling water, moth wings, and zebra stripes. Once fired, I use various colored enamels to give the forms value, dimension, and color. By experimenting with lighting, color, and sensors, I invite interaction and wonder. The forms lay inactive until one initiates communication through approach or sound. The interaction triggers hidden LED lights to glow and allows the concealed patterns to reveal themselves, expressing their communication ability.  

I push the weird and wild ways natural pattern formations generate, and yet remain aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Through my passion for ecological research, nature, and conservation, I investigate the perseverance of plants and animals after a detrimental interruption to their life. Life preserves, and my work generates a story of humankind’s oblivious collaboration with natural environments.     

My work examines the overlooked essence of nature as a result of human-constructed environments. I question the future relationship that humankind will have with the natural world. Through my work, I represent the symbiotic communication between humanity and botanical life. Building a depiction of nature’s intelligence, I generate a sublime sense of illusion that humanity can experience in naturally forming environments.

Although Aimee calls the Southwest desert her home, she has traversed the globe in search of artistic inspiration. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Florida and Arizona State University and completed undergraduate coursework in ceramics at Arizona State University. As a ceramic production manager for over 5 years, she is proficient in industrial slip casting, design software, digital fabrication tools, and studio management. Most recently, Aimee has been teaching fine art courses in higher education and developing community engagement strategies in the arts. Before her graduate studies and teaching career, she managed the ceramic bell production facility at Arcosanti in Arizona’s high desert. Aimee’s experiences living in Arcosanti’s experimental city have led her to investigate the human connection with nature, lighting, and immersive environments. The conceptual framework within her work focuses on impressionable moments in the natural world during her travels. She is currently the ceramic resident artist at Midwestern State University in Texas.Aimee has been recognized with numerous teaching awards as well as prestigious assistantships, gaining the opportunity to work with world-renowned artists. She has contributed to artist talks, demonstrations, internships, and residencies at art centers around the world, including Cobb Mountain Art and Ecology, The Pottery Workshop of Jingdezhen, China, Penland School of Craft, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Anderson Ranch Art Center, and The Phoenix Art Museum. Aimee’s work has been prominently featured in numerous national exhibitions. When not in the studio, Aimee tends to her urban farm, delivers nature conservation strategies to youth, or investigates flora in outdoor experiences.