Artist Statement
Moving often, I have a checkered path to what I call “home”. From the most rural mountain cabin of Appalachia to a downtown Milwaukee apartment, each place brings a new idiosyncratic reality that alters my perception. I find equal beauty in the moss that covers the maple trees in the south as I do the well crafted graffiti bombs that line the signs along highway 20 west through downtown Atlanta. These memories and scenes translate into sometimes subtle, sometimes loud interpretations of those experiences.
By pushing the clay, works become informed and instigated by slip, glaze and sgraffito mark-making. The painting and building of each piece prompts a ceramic freestyle that begins to manifest as etched words, appendages, drips, lines, reliefs, flicks and holes – each choice moves in a complementary rhythm to the needs of each piece. Pulling from my love of endurance based activities, works are often fired through the kiln over and over again. There is a joy in watching both the gradual and drastic shifts that the fire can provide. I enjoy layering more and more colors and textures onto the works with every recess from the heat. The end result is often a mystery to me, as I attempt to willingly accept the unknown and proceed excitedly blind.
— Paul Maloney
Bio