Skylor Swann

The underpinnings of our physical world inform my work. Alchemy and physical science play a big part in my creative process, yet it is metaphysics that fuels it. Through the work I explore the physical properties of reality while seeking to understand the binding forces that sustain it. I enjoy working in ceramics because it involves a change in material states through manipulation of its physical properties.

My imagery is a surreal interpretation of nature, a representational abstraction, with elements of fractal patterning and asymmetry. It explores the garden as a meditative space; a manicured rendition of nature reduced in scale facilitating our ability to comprehend its vastness. Flora and fauna dot a xeno-terra landscape and the skyline bares portholes to alternate regions of the cosmos. My fictitious rendering of space on circular cut slate tile is framed in clay to mimic a telescopic view as scene in the minds eye. I employ the ancient tradition of meditation mazes to link our perceived place in the material world with the philosophical transcendence of space and time. When tracing the path of a maze one is intended to contemplate their place in the natural world adjacent to the nature of their very existence.

— Skylor Swann

Skylor Swann is a ceramic sculptor residing in Fayetteville, NC where he is an Assistant Professor at Fayetteville State University since 2017. He earned an MFA from the University of Miami- FL (2015) and before that a BFA from Montana State University- Bozeman (2010) and prior to that a BS in Ceramics and Sculpture from Southern Utah University- Cedar City. His creative practice reaches across many fields of study including the culinary arts, music, landscaping and solo sports. For the record, he believes solo sports to be a high level of self-expression on par with dancing.