Natasha Hovey

Artist Statement

Certainly for artists of all stripes, the unknown, the idea or the form of the tale that has not yet arrived, is what must be found. It is the job of artists to open doors and invite in prophesies, the unknown, the unfamiliar; it’s where their work comes from … Scientists too, as J. Robert Oppenheimer once remarked, “live always at the ‘edge of mystery’ – the boundary of the unknown.” But they transform the unknown into the known, haul it in like fisherman; artists get you out into that dark sea. -- Rebecca Solnit, Field Guide to Getting Lost

Anatomical renderings and historical imagery allow the body to be translated from its complex layered structure to a more simplified form, often with the use of changes in dimension, scale, color, and perspective. Not unlike geographical maps, they facilitate meaning by setting up multiple systems of analysis that as a whole can be understood.

As a ceramic artist my practice and research of the human physiology are often approached simultaneously utilizing metaphorical associations and microscopic imagery that seeks to make sense of my own being at a genetic level. With the use of the metaphor and anatomical imagery I remove the body from its original context allowing a highly complex system to be stripped to its most basic elements. By translating my genetic information in this way I am able to begin to understand the factors associated with genetic diseases, how they may be transferred, and link up my ancestral makeup to possible environmental factors that may have occurred in the past.

Multiple slip casted forms build on the layer of content within the work. When arranged in space they invite the viewer to explore the object’s construction, surface, interaction, and its potential to represent a more complex system within a variety of contexts.

-- Natasha Hovey

Bio

Natasha Hovey was born and raised in New Hampton, Iowa. In 2011 she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from The University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, and in 2014 she received her Master of Fine Arts at The University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. Hovey has recently exhibited work at Sunday Morning at the European Work Center in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, Glassell School of Art within The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, and the MANA Contemporary in Chicago, IL. Hovey has been an Artist-in-Residence at Sunday Morning at the European Work Center and the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. She has been awarded the University Wide Fellowship at the University of Wisconsin, the Iowa Center for the Arts Council, and The University of Iowa Emerging Artist Scholarship. Hovey is currently an Artist-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX.