Homesick by Jaden Estes Carlson

I make hand-built ceramic sculptures that are reminiscent of my experiences and memories of the place I call home.  My work gives a glimpse into the conflicting emotions and experiences that come with having disdain for aspects of the culture and simultaneously having love for the people who inhabit it. Throughout this body of work, identity is a common thread. The work gives a voice to my mixed feeling about having to change myself to conform to my environment, the pride I feel having come from this environment as well as the shame.

I utilize terra cotta clay for its rich mineral content to signify accumulation both physically and abstractly. When hand-building my pieces, I squeeze, pinch, and pull the clay performing pain-inflicting actions upon the media to create landscapes and still lives that are visibly tactile and symbolic of life. I use “kitschy” imagery, quilts, and references to quilts, as well as domestic objects to underline the general disregard for the accomplishments of women and to confront the viewer’s reactions to art that embraces what is known as “women’s work.”

The arch is very present in my work and the chosen vehicle for my expression. I am attracted to its unique and identifiable form that carries vast connotations. In some instances, the arch manifests as the rolling hills of rural Nebraska, in others, it acts as an architectural facade. Whatever the case, the arch is a symbol of strength, transition, and perspective. In architecture, arches hold up the most enduring structures similar to the way the women in my life are the foundation of their environments. Enfilades are a captivating example of the arch’s ability to transform spaces and illicit feelings of being in multiple rooms at once. My work, using the arch, abstracts and applies these concepts to my autobiographical narratives about being a woman born and raised in the rural Midwest and the inner conflict that comes with it.