
2016/2024, 20" x 36" x 15", Media: Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide
Photo by Ian Welch

2020, the figure is 21" x 57" x 9", Media: Mixed Media, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Oxide, Unglazed
Between Two Worlds (figure only) was created in 2017 and was featured at Phoenix Art Museum along with Truth from Within. The installation it was placed in was created in 2020. Materials for the figure include copper carbonate, wax and wire.

2022, 12" x 19' x 3', Media: Mixed Media, Non-clay, Stoneware, Wild Clay/Raw Clay, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Unfired, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed, Non-ceramic, Oxide, Unglazed
Liminal Spaces references life transitions and life cycles using an ancient Celtic symbol and elements in nature that exist within natural environments. For this recent installation, I began with raw materials to create a design reminiscent of a labyrinth; a sacred place to reflect and center oneself in the midst of chaos. The desert spirals were created with bits from a previous installation using sand, dirt and collected bits of debris from the Sonoran Desert in Phoenix. I used ceramic techniques to preserve some bits by dipping them in clay slip, coating with crawl glazes and firing them in a kiln. Some were fired numerous times, others only once. Other bits were coated in chalk and milk paint, and some were left raw.

2021, 20" x 12" x 8", Media: Mixed Media, Stoneware, Firing Process: Electric, Mid-range, Surface: Oxide
In this series including Lonely Girl Room 3400, clay and wires were used to illuminate memory issues related to Alzheimer’s disease through a gendered lens. Watching my mother navigate her remaining years while living with the disease coupled with statistics indicating among other things that women with dementia outnumber men two to one, created a sense of urgency in me to make a lot of them. Layers of color were applied using hazelnut mason stain and wax. Text was carved into this one including a poem about aging written by my sister along with quotes regarding dementia. The room number refers to the one room women were reduced to living in while living out their last days in a nursing home. It was also written into their clothes tags (reminiscent of kindergarten) yet, clothes were lost all the time and my mother had someone else's on many times.
Artist Statement
Bio
Constance McBride (b. Philadelphia, PA) delves into gender-based issues with ceramic sculpture, installations and mixed media. Recent awards include the Jacques MacCuiston Dowling Award for Sculpture (Woodmere) and grants from The Puffin Foundation, Philadelphia Sculptors, Phoenix Art Museum’s Contemporary Forum, Arizona Commission on the Arts and a position in the 2021 Chautauqua Visual Arts Residency Program in Chautauqua, New York. Her work is shown nationally in the USA and abroad. Recent solo exhibitions include The Melancholic Joy of Living at Chesapeake Gallery (MD), The Lonely Girls at Abington Art Center (PA) and at Tubbs Gallery (DE). Notable group shows include Belonging at Woodmere Art Museum (PA), a Contemporary Forum Grant Recipients exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum (Phoenix, AZ), Craft Forms at Wayne Art Center (Wayne, PA), The Clay Studio National (Philadelphia, PA) and Beyond the Brickyard at Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts (Helena, MT). In 2018, McBride spent five weeks as a resident facilitator/art educator at Sias University in Xinzheng and villages in and around Zhengzhou, Henan Province, China via a World Academy for the Future of Women and US State Department grant. Her work has received attention from several publications including Yahoo News Cities Rising series, Artblog, Cleaver Magazine, and the international magazines Suboart and Inspirational art. Currently based outside of Philadelphia, PA she teaches Sculpture and Hand Building and is a host of the show Art Watch at WCHE Radio Station in West Chester, PA. McBride earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Arcadia University, Glenside, PA.