September 26 - October 26, 2024
From La Mecha Contemporary:
“This is a Love Letter to the place that I was born and raised,
Thank you for helping me understand something much greater that cannot be
simplified with words.
Always
La Guerita
My work explores the complexities of identity by conflating the line between triumph and failure in relation to social and cultural expectations. Through my use of material and surface treatments, I point to not only the tension of our roles in society, but also the beauty that is associated with the embrace of failure.
The properties and processes associated with these materials are fundamental to the communication of my ideas. When creating my bodily ceramic forms, the process is quick, impulsive, and intentionally rushed to the point that the clay begins to lean and bend with the weight of itself. Once it begins to bend, fall, and “fail,” I build it back up again, forming towers and pits showing triumph in failure. This process creates a form, a trophy of failure, which shows in physical form the feelings of the push and pull of the internal and external forces of societal expectations. In conjunction with these clay bodies, I incorporate glass elements to represent the rigidity and fragility present in all of these systems.
Through the relationship of these ceramic bodies in combination of glass, fabric, and object, I am presenting information about a time and place but also pointing to the artificial in that presentation. With the items I choose, I am able to censor information or curate the way that it is perceived. I am giving examples of preciousness, worth, doting, and love, but also within an artificial staged environment with limited information. These stressed connections of objects exist in a place that has notes of familiarity, but the environment lacks comfort. In our performances of personal presentation we can remove all of the notations of failure but the presence of those failures can lead to connection and relief from the perfectionism of societal roles. Through my material and process I can have larger conversations about the ideas that are encapsulated in and surrounding my ceramic form about our roles in the world.
Maggie Day is a visual artist and educator that lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with her three children. Through the use of craft material, bodily ceramic forms, and strangely curated objects, Day tells a story of triumph, failure, and performance that comes as a response to societal expectations.The ceramic forms, that she calls trophies of failure, are a result of this role. Day received her Bachelors in Fine Art in 2017 and her Master’s in Fine Art in 2021, both from New Mexico State University. Day is currently teaching ceramics and art appreciation courses at New Mexico State University, Dona Ana Community College, and El Paso Community College, as well as teaching STEAM in the Las Cruces Public School for Cruces Creatives.”
Reception: September 26, 2024 | 6–8 pm
3803 Frutas Avenue
El Paso, 79905 Texas
915-440-3278
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