Clara Grace Hoag ( she/her )

I use a dense, busy visual language in sculptures, drawings, and photographs to describe the complexity of the human body and mind. When I work, I think about how every person is a collection of their senses, experiences, surroundings, and *stuff*. That is compelling to me – so, in my work, I use a visual language of accumulation to talk about that philosophical idea. In some of my work, this language is primarily architectural, suggesting a parallel between a body and a building or city; in other pieces, the inclusion of sculpted toys expands this visual language, suggesting a world that is both chaotic and delightful – like a ball pit. In all my work, the density of these components illustrates the human condition as one of turmoil, equilibrium, and joy. Each figure is emblematic of the process of “living” – of trial and tribulation, failure and success, and the unstoppable progress of time, pushing us forward like a snowball rolling down a hill; the things we pick up along the way are cobbled and etched into our being.

Clara Hoag is an artist and teacher living and working in Houston, TX (USA). Clara has been a resident artist at The Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, MT) and The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (TX); she has received grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation (Canada), The Puffin Foundation (New Jersey), and the Houston Arts Alliance; and she has shown extensively in group and solo exhibitions in the United States. Clara received two BFAs from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign) in 2009, and she received her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Georgia (Athens) in 2013. Clara teaches ceramics as a full-time professor at Houston City College.