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Transgressive Terra(tory) Jennifer Brazelton & Shenny Cruces
October 4 - November 23, 2019 Artist's Talk/Gallery Walk Through Saturday, November 16th, 2 pm |
Transgressive Terra(tory)
The works of Jennifer Brazelton and Shenny Cruces reinterpret the spaces one inhabits as an act of defiance towards political and cultural constructs. Using clay as their primary medium each artist uses the materiality of clay to metaphorically mold and shape new ideas of space while nodding toward the historical value associated with porcelain. The process in making Brazelton’s Islands became a refuge in the aftermath of the 2016 elections. Once islands of resistance, the artist notes that they have become proactive Islands of Resilience. Cruces’ work stems from the examination of architectural motives and objects contained within the home. Her pieces reimagine the gendered objects often collected within the home as well as archetypal patterns. Each piece acts as a rich vignette for which the artist creates scenes examining feminine power.
Shenny Phillips Cruces is a Sacramento and Bay Area based artist whose work is inspired by the act of collecting and the importance of objects in one's life. Having grown up as a child of an Air Force Chief Master Sargent, what one collects and keeps has been an important aspect of her life. Ms. Cruces received a BA in Ceramics from Illinois State University in 2008 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics from San Francisco State University in 2011. Her work has appeared in shows throughout California and the United States and includes 2013 NCECA Biennial, A Gilded Age at the Northern Clay Center and the Community Heirloom Project at the Palo Alto Art Center. Her work has received numerous awards including a Murphy Cadogan Fellowship, and a Kiln God Award Residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine. Ms. Cruces has attended artist residencies at CRETA in Rome, Italy and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Ms. Cruces is currently Associate Professor of Art and Ceramics at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California.
Jennifer Brazelton was born and raised in the Arizona desert, by Midwestern parents, who kept their family grounded with a mixture of hard work and ingenuity. Brazelton traveled widely in an early career as a travel agent and her many experiences in distant places led her to San Francisco where she went back to school to finish her degree. She continued her art practice with an MF from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in ceramic art. In her work, she endeavors to embrace the uncomfortable and the unknown. The contradictions of the world around her are expressed in the interconnectedness of her sculptural gestures.
Jennifer lives in San Francisco with her husband and has her studio at Dome Studios in Oakland, CA. She teaches college level art courses at California State University East Bay, Ohlone College, and Skyline College. Her work is represented in the Lark Books publication “500 Raku Pieces”, as well as Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color by Brian Taylor and Kate Doody, and by Roscoe Ceramic Gallery in Oakland, CA, and Abraham Claghorn Gallery in Albany, CA.
The works of Jennifer Brazelton and Shenny Cruces reinterpret the spaces one inhabits as an act of defiance towards political and cultural constructs. Using clay as their primary medium each artist uses the materiality of clay to metaphorically mold and shape new ideas of space while nodding toward the historical value associated with porcelain. The process in making Brazelton’s Islands became a refuge in the aftermath of the 2016 elections. Once islands of resistance, the artist notes that they have become proactive Islands of Resilience. Cruces’ work stems from the examination of architectural motives and objects contained within the home. Her pieces reimagine the gendered objects often collected within the home as well as archetypal patterns. Each piece acts as a rich vignette for which the artist creates scenes examining feminine power.
Shenny Phillips Cruces is a Sacramento and Bay Area based artist whose work is inspired by the act of collecting and the importance of objects in one's life. Having grown up as a child of an Air Force Chief Master Sargent, what one collects and keeps has been an important aspect of her life. Ms. Cruces received a BA in Ceramics from Illinois State University in 2008 and a Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics from San Francisco State University in 2011. Her work has appeared in shows throughout California and the United States and includes 2013 NCECA Biennial, A Gilded Age at the Northern Clay Center and the Community Heirloom Project at the Palo Alto Art Center. Her work has received numerous awards including a Murphy Cadogan Fellowship, and a Kiln God Award Residency at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine. Ms. Cruces has attended artist residencies at CRETA in Rome, Italy and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. Ms. Cruces is currently Associate Professor of Art and Ceramics at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California.
Jennifer Brazelton was born and raised in the Arizona desert, by Midwestern parents, who kept their family grounded with a mixture of hard work and ingenuity. Brazelton traveled widely in an early career as a travel agent and her many experiences in distant places led her to San Francisco where she went back to school to finish her degree. She continued her art practice with an MF from San Francisco State University with an emphasis in ceramic art. In her work, she endeavors to embrace the uncomfortable and the unknown. The contradictions of the world around her are expressed in the interconnectedness of her sculptural gestures.
Jennifer lives in San Francisco with her husband and has her studio at Dome Studios in Oakland, CA. She teaches college level art courses at California State University East Bay, Ohlone College, and Skyline College. Her work is represented in the Lark Books publication “500 Raku Pieces”, as well as Glaze: The Ultimate Ceramic Artist's Guide to Glaze and Color by Brian Taylor and Kate Doody, and by Roscoe Ceramic Gallery in Oakland, CA, and Abraham Claghorn Gallery in Albany, CA.
