Patsy Cox

Artist Statement

Flying into any large urban center, as you approach the descent you notice once stagnant structures begin to flurry with activity. The sheer volume and intensity of place becomes apparent instantaneously, a snapshot of our contemporary time, of excess, consumption and unrelenting activity.

Forms found in nature are also of special interest. There is simplicity and perfection in their appearance, patterns and growth. The conceptual combination of the manmade metropolis with the clumping, sprouting, flowering structures of natural plant life provides a point of intersection.

I think obsessively, I work incessantly, I move constantly. Diversity, assimilation, growth and movement within the context of a particular place have become the focus of my installation-based sculptures. They are representations of the urban landscape, the mixtures of culture, race, identity, and a comment on how these factors appear in a particular space as defined by its confines and surroundings.

My pieces are fabricated from clay, in a traditional way, fired and glazed. All pieces are true to the process and traditions of ceramics and are shaped by my own hands. Simultaneously, I strive to conceive and present the work in contradiction to accepted conventions of my chosen material.

Bio

Patsy Cox received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and Ceramics from Missouri State University and her Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics and Sculpture from the University of Delaware.

Patsy has exhibited both nationally and internationally and has been included most recently in; Romanesco Fractals at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA); Distillations and Eruptions at the Clay and Glass Gallery in Waterloo, Ontario; CODE at Spring Street Studios in Houston, Texas; and USPSLA at the Houston Community College, Houston, Texas. Her work has been included in catalogs, books and periodicals including Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics: Art and Perception, and 500 Sculptures. She has lectured extensively, most recently at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), College Art Association (CAA) and the Pottery Workshop in Jingdezhen, China.

She was a J. Paul Getty Scholar Linking Service Learning and the Visual Arts and currently serves on the board of The National Council for the Education of Ceramic Art (NCECA) as Past-President. She has completed the Alchemy and Alchemy+ training for non-profit excellence through the Annenberg Foundation. Patsy is currently Professor of Visual Art and Head of Ceramics at California State University, Northridge where she has served as Associate Chair and Graduate Coordinator.

She has coordinated several courses for the California State University Summer Arts Program and lives and maintains a productive studio space in Los Angeles, California.