Bridget Fairbank - "This Way or That Way, Installation view, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics"
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’ each, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Mixed Media, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, High-fire, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Raku, Reduction, Salt fired, Soda fired, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief, Unglazed
At a moment when ceramics are everywhere, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics includes sculptures and installations made by contemporary artists committed to clay to ask how ceramics can activate our experience of and relationship to the world around us. This exhibition examines the ceramic object through three interconnected ideas—the ceramic object in relation to its materials and processes; the ceramic object in relation to its context; and the affective nature of the ceramic object in relation to the self and body. The artists in this exhibition make contemporary ceramics that reconnect us with the material world and each other. Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and co-curated by Lindsey Sharman and Diana Sherlock. This exhibition is presented by the Poole Centre of Design.
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’ each, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Mixed Media, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, High-fire, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Raku, Reduction, Salt fired, Soda fired, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief, Unglazed
At a moment when ceramics are everywhere, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics includes sculptures and installations made by contemporary artists committed to clay to ask how ceramics can activate our experience of and relationship to the world around us. This exhibition examines the ceramic object through three interconnected ideas—the ceramic object in relation to its materials and processes; the ceramic object in relation to its context; and the affective nature of the ceramic object in relation to the self and body. The artists in this exhibition make contemporary ceramics that reconnect us with the material world and each other. Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and co-curated by Lindsey Sharman and Diana Sherlock. This exhibition is presented by the Poole Centre of Design.
Bridget Fairbank - "Foodscapes: From Seed to Mouth, Thesis Exhibition, Installation view"
2017, 6’x10’x4’, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide, Unglazed
This thesis presents gardening, picking food and eating as enjoyable steps towards the reclamation of the food system. Participants select and harvest food from the tile based vertical garden + then prepare the items together at the preparation station, talking about the food before us and food in general. Lastly, the participant will choose a plate and sit to dine. These steps are such as to implicate the viewer in a seasonal garden landscape, the labour and bodily engagement of cooking, and a community connection in eating. Plants, soils and seeds have been dug up from UF Organic Garden Co-Op, Field and Fork Farm and Gardens ,Swallowtail Farm, Alachua County Feed & Seed, Forage Farm and my home garden.
2017, 6’x10’x4’, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide, Unglazed
This thesis presents gardening, picking food and eating as enjoyable steps towards the reclamation of the food system. Participants select and harvest food from the tile based vertical garden + then prepare the items together at the preparation station, talking about the food before us and food in general. Lastly, the participant will choose a plate and sit to dine. These steps are such as to implicate the viewer in a seasonal garden landscape, the labour and bodily engagement of cooking, and a community connection in eating. Plants, soils and seeds have been dug up from UF Organic Garden Co-Op, Field and Fork Farm and Gardens ,Swallowtail Farm, Alachua County Feed & Seed, Forage Farm and my home garden.
Bridget Fairbank - "CERAMICA BOTANICA: A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM"
2020, Installation View, Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Oxidation, Surface: Glazed, Relief
CERAMICA BOTANICA: A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM Exhibition, 2020 Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.
2020, Installation View, Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Oxidation, Surface: Glazed, Relief
CERAMICA BOTANICA: A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM Exhibition, 2020 Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.
Bridget Fairbank - "Ceramica Botanica, Plum"
2020, 4'x3'x0.75', Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief
CerAMICA BOTANICA: A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM Exhibition, 2020 Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.
2020, 4'x3'x0.75', Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief
CerAMICA BOTANICA: A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM Exhibition, 2020 Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.
Bridget Fairbank - "Innocuous Tropicals,"
2018, 3’x 4’x.0.25’, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Relief
innocuous Tropicals Exhibition, 2018 The source material for these compositions has been continuously accumulated through Florida living. In Florida plants persist. These are specific species, from particular places. They are researched passionately and rigorously whether native flora, innocuous, invasive imports demanding space, plants that make you ill or plants that offer remedy. Rather than translating the specific, the tile is meant to be plant-like, expressive, a reminder that man is not apart from, but a part of nature. These pieces are conduits through which you may feel that exponential growth is possible.
2018, 3’x 4’x.0.25’, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Relief
innocuous Tropicals Exhibition, 2018 The source material for these compositions has been continuously accumulated through Florida living. In Florida plants persist. These are specific species, from particular places. They are researched passionately and rigorously whether native flora, innocuous, invasive imports demanding space, plants that make you ill or plants that offer remedy. Rather than translating the specific, the tile is meant to be plant-like, expressive, a reminder that man is not apart from, but a part of nature. These pieces are conduits through which you may feel that exponential growth is possible.
Bridget Fairbank - "Orange Citrus 1246 P St., FRUKTPLOCAR, Detail"
2021, 3’x2’x0.5’, Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Pattern, Relief
FRUKTPLOCAR is inspired by https://fallingfruit.org/ , one of many crowd sourced fruit maps in the world, Bridget Fairbank chose to spend the winter months in Canada mining the internet, while eating and pondering imported fruit. Stalking images of specific plants, Fairbank virtually walked the city, in every season, imagined the smells, the sounds and the people around a fruit tree. She engaged in a long distance relationship- more personal than that with the fruit on her table, in her bowl. She researched their background, their likes and their dislikes, painted portraits of them on tile- to last an eternity- and then in Springtime, on a hot California day after 1,575 km of travel from snow, through a boarder and mountains to fields and endless field of olives and oranges- they met. Hear the meeting via the link below.  It is time to remember that we live in nature and to interact with food sources as individual entities. Fairbank looks to these maps of local, self-replenishing food sources as an avenue to connect to climate and each other. Season and locality is lost in the global food market. We are blind to climate, to place, to body. She met real people who's lives are intertwined with these trees, fruits and streets. In honour of this the title of each plant is an address.  Falling Fruit Maps are crowdsourced interactive maps that show anyone and everyone where to find specific plants, they promotes urban foraging worldwide. California is ripe with free falling fruit but also the home to large agricultural mono-cultures that are the antithesis to diverse local foods. This dichotomy makes California the perfect locale to subvert how and why we interact with specific plants and foods. This interface gives people power to re-claim the food chain and re-think connections. Experience the accompanying video here: https://www.bridgetfairbank.com/fruktplocar
2021, 3’x2’x0.5’, Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Pattern, Relief
FRUKTPLOCAR is inspired by https://fallingfruit.org/ , one of many crowd sourced fruit maps in the world, Bridget Fairbank chose to spend the winter months in Canada mining the internet, while eating and pondering imported fruit. Stalking images of specific plants, Fairbank virtually walked the city, in every season, imagined the smells, the sounds and the people around a fruit tree. She engaged in a long distance relationship- more personal than that with the fruit on her table, in her bowl. She researched their background, their likes and their dislikes, painted portraits of them on tile- to last an eternity- and then in Springtime, on a hot California day after 1,575 km of travel from snow, through a boarder and mountains to fields and endless field of olives and oranges- they met. Hear the meeting via the link below.  It is time to remember that we live in nature and to interact with food sources as individual entities. Fairbank looks to these maps of local, self-replenishing food sources as an avenue to connect to climate and each other. Season and locality is lost in the global food market. We are blind to climate, to place, to body. She met real people who's lives are intertwined with these trees, fruits and streets. In honour of this the title of each plant is an address.  Falling Fruit Maps are crowdsourced interactive maps that show anyone and everyone where to find specific plants, they promotes urban foraging worldwide. California is ripe with free falling fruit but also the home to large agricultural mono-cultures that are the antithesis to diverse local foods. This dichotomy makes California the perfect locale to subvert how and why we interact with specific plants and foods. This interface gives people power to re-claim the food chain and re-think connections. Experience the accompanying video here: https://www.bridgetfairbank.com/fruktplocar
Bridget Fairbank - "This Way or That Way, Fireweed Detail, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics"
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’,, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief
As a response to the climate crisis, Fairbank has created two opposing archways representing two different ways forward. Industry Arch represents monoculture and industrial practices, Floral Arch includes native plant species that are threatened by industry and industrial farming. The work asks many difficult questions including can these two directions exist simultaneously? Must we choose one? Are there any other options? The fact that both are flush against the wall rendering them unpassable further complicates the choice they seem to offer and also asks, is it too late to choose either of them?
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’,, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief
As a response to the climate crisis, Fairbank has created two opposing archways representing two different ways forward. Industry Arch represents monoculture and industrial practices, Floral Arch includes native plant species that are threatened by industry and industrial farming. The work asks many difficult questions including can these two directions exist simultaneously? Must we choose one? Are there any other options? The fact that both are flush against the wall rendering them unpassable further complicates the choice they seem to offer and also asks, is it too late to choose either of them?
Bridget Fairbank - "This Way or That Way, Fireweed Detail, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics"
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide, Relief
As a response to the climate crisis, Fairbank has created two opposing archways representing two different ways forward. Industry Arch represents monoculture and industrial practices, Floral Arch includes native plant species that are threatened by industry and industrial farming. The work asks many difficult questions including can these two directions exist simultaneously? Must we choose one? Are there any other options? The fact that both are flush against the wall rendering them unpassable further complicates the choice they seem to offer and also asks, is it too late to choose either of them?
2024, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’, Media: Colored porcelain, Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide, Relief
As a response to the climate crisis, Fairbank has created two opposing archways representing two different ways forward. Industry Arch represents monoculture and industrial practices, Floral Arch includes native plant species that are threatened by industry and industrial farming. The work asks many difficult questions including can these two directions exist simultaneously? Must we choose one? Are there any other options? The fact that both are flush against the wall rendering them unpassable further complicates the choice they seem to offer and also asks, is it too late to choose either of them?
Bridget Fairbank - "This Way or That Way, Industrial Arch, Installation view, Between Things: Alberta Ceramics"
2025, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, High-fire, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Pit / Saggar fired, Raku, Reduction, Soda fired, Unfired, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief, Unglazed
his arch contains all materials available to a standard ceramics studio. Alumia, Chrome, Cobalt, Copper Carbonate, Calcium Carbonate, Silica (Flint) Sil-Co-Sil, Alumina Hydrate, Alberta Slip, Barium Carbonate, Bentonite, Black Copper Oxide, Black Nickel Oxide, Black Iron Oxide, Borax, Bone Ash, Tri-Calcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Chrome Oxide, Edgar Plastic Kaolin, Fireclay Red, Gold Art Airfloated Clay, Grolleg Kaolin, Old Mine #4 Kaolin, Plainsman M390, Plainsman 300, Ravenscraig Slip, Red Art Airfloated Clay, Red Earth, Tile #6 Kaolin, XX Saggar clay, Cobalt Carbonate, Cobalt Carbonate, Copper Carbonate, Cornish Stone, Dolomite, Custer Feldspar, Minspar 200, Mahavir Potash, Ferro Fritt 3124, Ferro Fritt 3134, Gerstley Borate, Illuminite, granular Illuminate Lithium Carbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Manganese Dioxide, Nepheline Syenite, Nickle Carbonate, Red Iron Oxide, Rutile, Spodumene, Pioneer Talc, American Talc, Tin Oxid, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow Ochre Oxide, Mason Stains # 6433, 6001, 6021, 6025, 6027, 6100, 6204, 6236, 6274, 6280, 6306, 6363, 6364, 6410, 6450, 6600, BC Grade 2 plywood, + construction adhesives and dirt. This arch has been fired in Soda, Salt, Wood, Raku, Gas + Electric kilns. The Clay in this work is high fire, mid range + earthenware (for all the heat to come), sourced locally, brought in hand form Berlin + Australia or wild clays dug from various range road construction sites after heavy rains in the Saddle Hills, naturally occurring Albertan Bentonite, re-claimed clays various institutions, IXL brick fragments, + Oil-sands silt from Suncor FireBag.
2025, 4.5’ x 10’ x 1’., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, High-fire, Low-fire, Mid-range, Oxidation, Pit / Saggar fired, Raku, Reduction, Soda fired, Unfired, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Oxide, Relief, Unglazed
his arch contains all materials available to a standard ceramics studio. Alumia, Chrome, Cobalt, Copper Carbonate, Calcium Carbonate, Silica (Flint) Sil-Co-Sil, Alumina Hydrate, Alberta Slip, Barium Carbonate, Bentonite, Black Copper Oxide, Black Nickel Oxide, Black Iron Oxide, Borax, Bone Ash, Tri-Calcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Chrome Oxide, Edgar Plastic Kaolin, Fireclay Red, Gold Art Airfloated Clay, Grolleg Kaolin, Old Mine #4 Kaolin, Plainsman M390, Plainsman 300, Ravenscraig Slip, Red Art Airfloated Clay, Red Earth, Tile #6 Kaolin, XX Saggar clay, Cobalt Carbonate, Cobalt Carbonate, Copper Carbonate, Cornish Stone, Dolomite, Custer Feldspar, Minspar 200, Mahavir Potash, Ferro Fritt 3124, Ferro Fritt 3134, Gerstley Borate, Illuminite, granular Illuminate Lithium Carbonate, Magnesium Carbonate, Manganese Dioxide, Nepheline Syenite, Nickle Carbonate, Red Iron Oxide, Rutile, Spodumene, Pioneer Talc, American Talc, Tin Oxid, Titanium Dioxide, Yellow Ochre Oxide, Mason Stains # 6433, 6001, 6021, 6025, 6027, 6100, 6204, 6236, 6274, 6280, 6306, 6363, 6364, 6410, 6450, 6600, BC Grade 2 plywood, + construction adhesives and dirt. This arch has been fired in Soda, Salt, Wood, Raku, Gas + Electric kilns. The Clay in this work is high fire, mid range + earthenware (for all the heat to come), sourced locally, brought in hand form Berlin + Australia or wild clays dug from various range road construction sites after heavy rains in the Saddle Hills, naturally occurring Albertan Bentonite, re-claimed clays various institutions, IXL brick fragments, + Oil-sands silt from Suncor FireBag.
Bridget Fairbank - "The Pineapple Project"
2017, Installation , Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Glazed
A counter-cum-workbench, tools and utensils act as both still life and kitchen in this installation. The smell of freshly cut pineapple seduces a viewer to slice, dice and pick to engage. When is the last time you considered a pineapple? When is the last time you purchased a pineapple? Was it pre-skinned and diced? Prickly pineapples are slow laborious to cultivate. Each must be picked by hand, it is a cumbersome fruit. A worker wears full body armour when harvesting due to the knife-like spikes protruding from the tops of the fruit. A once-coveted Florida crop in the early 1900’s, the Dole company squashed the Florida-based industry by establishing its present day sites in Hawaii. The tropical fruit was a delicacy and the symbol for hospitality. At the end of a social gathering the host would ceremoniously cut the top off of the fruit, a sign that the party had ended. Still today, you can simply plant the top of a pineapple and cultivate your own. Abundance is key to this installation. The viewer is free to take, to participate.
2017, Installation , Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Glazed
A counter-cum-workbench, tools and utensils act as both still life and kitchen in this installation. The smell of freshly cut pineapple seduces a viewer to slice, dice and pick to engage. When is the last time you considered a pineapple? When is the last time you purchased a pineapple? Was it pre-skinned and diced? Prickly pineapples are slow laborious to cultivate. Each must be picked by hand, it is a cumbersome fruit. A worker wears full body armour when harvesting due to the knife-like spikes protruding from the tops of the fruit. A once-coveted Florida crop in the early 1900’s, the Dole company squashed the Florida-based industry by establishing its present day sites in Hawaii. The tropical fruit was a delicacy and the symbol for hospitality. At the end of a social gathering the host would ceremoniously cut the top off of the fruit, a sign that the party had ended. Still today, you can simply plant the top of a pineapple and cultivate your own. Abundance is key to this installation. The viewer is free to take, to participate.
Artist Statement
I use the metaphorical landscapes of flora as a catalyst for making work about the discourses that mediate our relationships. The handcrafted object is now the subversive object. Through project based ceramic installation and orchestrated happenings I aim to formulate strategies for modern existence. I work to implicate and empower a viewer through sensory enjoyment and social engagement. My art is plant-like, vibrant and plentiful, a reminder that we are not apart from nature.
Bio
Bridget Fairbank makes installation art + orchestrates happenings for the re-imagining of everyday actions and relations. Born in the mountains of beautiful British Columbia, her childhood was spent exploring nature. A University of Florida MFA, NSCAD University BFA, residencies from Miami-to-Berlin have punctuated twelve-years of wildfire-spotting for Alberta Forestry. As Technician Alberta University of the Arts she knows one thing: the earth connects us all and that earth is made of clay.