Ursula Hargens - "Platter"
2019, 16x16x1.5 in, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee
2019, 16x16x1.5 in, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee
Ursula Hargens - "Vase (Falling Tulips)"
2016, 12x12x23 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee
2016, 12x12x23 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee
Ursula Hargens - "Wallflower (Reflection)"
2010, 40x27x1.5 inches per panel, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee
2010, 40x27x1.5 inches per panel, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee
Ursula Hargens - "Juniper, Sea Foam, Victory"
2013, 13x13x1 in,Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Paint color names are designed to evoke a mood or association. I wondered what these color names looked like through the lens of synesthesia. Using names from hardware store paint chips, I created three distinct palettes using the colors associate with the letters in each name.
2013, 13x13x1 in,Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze, Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Paint color names are designed to evoke a mood or association. I wondered what these color names looked like through the lens of synesthesia. Using names from hardware store paint chips, I created three distinct palettes using the colors associate with the letters in each name.
Ursula Hargens - "P is for Pink/R is for Red"
2013, 6 ft. (height), Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee. "P is for Pink" is a roadmap of my color synesthesia and reflects the letter/color combinations I see. "R is for Red” takes letters and numbers and strips them of their shape. This color chart still reads as the alphabet to me, but it also becomes a system for organizing color and material information. I am translating symbols of written language into material language. Ceramists can translate this into the language of objects through the physical process of making.
2013, 6 ft. (height), Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Glazed
Photo credit: Peter Lee. "P is for Pink" is a roadmap of my color synesthesia and reflects the letter/color combinations I see. "R is for Red” takes letters and numbers and strips them of their shape. This color chart still reads as the alphabet to me, but it also becomes a system for organizing color and material information. I am translating symbols of written language into material language. Ceramists can translate this into the language of objects through the physical process of making.
Ursula Hargens - "Wallflower (Invasive Species), Panel 2 (detail)"
2012, 28x77 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. This is the second in a series of four tile panels which depicts my move from decorative compositions to representational imagery of endangered species. In this panel, imagery shifts from native Minnesota wildflowers to invasive garlic mustard and buckthorn.
2012, 28x77 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. This is the second in a series of four tile panels which depicts my move from decorative compositions to representational imagery of endangered species. In this panel, imagery shifts from native Minnesota wildflowers to invasive garlic mustard and buckthorn.
Ursula Hargens - "Invasive Minnesota Noxious Weeds in Three Rivers Park District" (1990-Present)"
2019, 38x56x1 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Eric Mueller. This composition uses data visualization techniques to chart invasive terrestrial species within the Minnesota Three Rivers Park District. Each plant represents a different invasive. They are organized chronologically from left to right, mapping the year the species was added to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Noxious Weed list. Each aspect of the composition corresponds to a specific data point.
2019, 38x56x1 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Eric Mueller. This composition uses data visualization techniques to chart invasive terrestrial species within the Minnesota Three Rivers Park District. Each plant represents a different invasive. They are organized chronologically from left to right, mapping the year the species was added to the Minnesota Department of Agriculture’s Noxious Weed list. Each aspect of the composition corresponds to a specific data point.
Ursula Hargens - "Invasion of Starry Stonewort in Minnesota Lakes"
2019, 14 in. (height),Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Eric Mueller. This piece joins decorative marks with data in reflecting the recent aggressive invasion of Starry Stonewort in Minnesota lakes. Each cylinder represents a year from 2015 to 2018, and each line relates to a lake infected with starry stonework. Decorative dots and lines record other invasive species already present in the lake; the accumulation of marks corresponds to the number of years the secondary invasive has existed within the lake.
2019, 14 in. (height),Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Eric Mueller. This piece joins decorative marks with data in reflecting the recent aggressive invasion of Starry Stonewort in Minnesota lakes. Each cylinder represents a year from 2015 to 2018, and each line relates to a lake infected with starry stonework. Decorative dots and lines record other invasive species already present in the lake; the accumulation of marks corresponds to the number of years the secondary invasive has existed within the lake.
Ursula Hargens - "Endangered/Invasive (Floating Marigold & Purple Loosestrife)""
2019, 13x13x1.5 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Floating Marsh-marigold (Caltha natans) is an endangered aquatic species that is very sensitive to disturbances such as water level fluctuation from motorboats, increased herbicides and nutrient enrichment in the water, and loss of habitat from invasive species such as Purple Loosestrife. On Nov 1, 2018, the MN DNR issued permits for PolyMet Mining's proposed open pit copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. One of the permits issued is an “endangered species takings permit” which allows PolyMet to kill three endangered plant species, including the Floating Marsh Marigold. In exchange, PolyMet will pay the MN DNR $340,000 to mitigate the damage.
2019, 13x13x1.5 in., Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Floating Marsh-marigold (Caltha natans) is an endangered aquatic species that is very sensitive to disturbances such as water level fluctuation from motorboats, increased herbicides and nutrient enrichment in the water, and loss of habitat from invasive species such as Purple Loosestrife. On Nov 1, 2018, the MN DNR issued permits for PolyMet Mining's proposed open pit copper-nickel mine in northeastern Minnesota. One of the permits issued is an “endangered species takings permit” which allows PolyMet to kill three endangered plant species, including the Floating Marsh Marigold. In exchange, PolyMet will pay the MN DNR $340,000 to mitigate the damage.
Ursula Hargens - "Vase (Dwarf Trout Lily)""
2016, 16x16x1.5 in, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Dwarf Trout Lily (Erythronium propullans) is a spring ephemeral that is Minnesota endemic—it is only known to occur in three southeastern counties in the Cannon River Watershed. Its survival is threatened by loss of elm canopy, earthworm infestation, and invasive species such as garlic mustard.
2016, 16x16x1.5 in, Media: Earthenware / Terracotta, Firing Process: Electric, Surface: Engobe / Slip / Underglaze
Photo credit: Peter Lee. Dwarf Trout Lily (Erythronium propullans) is a spring ephemeral that is Minnesota endemic—it is only known to occur in three southeastern counties in the Cannon River Watershed. Its survival is threatened by loss of elm canopy, earthworm infestation, and invasive species such as garlic mustard.
Artist Statement
I love pots and and ceramic history and am curious about how the objects we create stand as a record of our cultural values. I began covering my pottery forms in flowers to reclaim a language of decoration. Flowers blossom, compete, and sometimes unite as they traverse my vessels, creating a dialogue between form and surface. They are part of an ongoing conversation about embedded values, neglected vs. celebrated histories, and the transformative role functional objects can play in communities.My work has shifted over the past decade as the public debate around environmental justice has come into sharper focus, and I have become increasingly invested in these issues. I have moved from purely symbolic language to using flora to investigate themes of loss, shifting landscapes, and environmental change. Our impact on the environment and declining biodiversity can be difficult to comprehend in the abstract, but focusing attention on an endangered, forest wildflower can evoke an intimate sense of loss. Most recently, I approached environmental change through a scientific lens, using data visualization techniques to inform the surface design. Data points become decorative marks that use the language of line, color, and form to record the impacts of human activity.
Bio
Ursula Hargens is a ceramic artist and educator based in Minneapolis. She received an MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University; an MA in Art & Art Education from Columbia University, Teachers College; and studied ceramics at Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. She is a three-time McKnight Artist Fellow, has received awards from the Jerome Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board, and was named 2020 Ceramic Artist of the Year by Ceramics Monthly and Pottery Making Illustrated. Ursula has been a teaching artist for many years and is co-founder and Program Head of Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education (MN NICE), an advanced certificate program in ceramics, developed in 2014 in partnership with Northern Clay Center.