Biography

Liz Vukelich received an MFA from Alfred University and a BA in studio art and political science from Mary Baldwin College. Previously, she apprenticed with Simon Levin at Mill Creek Pottery, learning the technique of wood firing. She also assisted Liz Lurie and Peter Beasecker in New York state. Additionally, she has worked at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts as studio staff and a work-study student respectively. She creates ceramic sculpture for ritual, performance, and interaction as well as pottery that encourages contemplation. Her work has been exhibited locally and nationally.

Artist Statement

Relational Sculpture:

We are all dying. Everyone we love will leave us or has left us already. Alternatively (and this is not much better) we leave them behind when we go. Right now, however- we live. This work provides space to grieve loss and confront our own mortality, while celebrating and creating connections in the present moment. 

In America we often avoid discussing death. I think about it more than most. The fear of running out of time and the urge to come together while we have it drives my work. Loss and life are two sides of the same coin.

Living is supposed to be silly. Awkward. Intimate. Full of as much wonder and joy as we can cram in. Life is at its best when we are present with each other. This work facilitate those moments. To commune with each other.

With you, the participant, these pieces come alive. In the spaces they create, we drink together, reach to touch another’s fingertips, look into each other’s eyes, listen to another’s heartbeat. We pour out offerings to those who have gone. Place the name of someone we love into a wishing well. Witness the planting of tears as seeds. 

The work exists beyond the gallery space; take a pair of cups home with you. Add to the stories.

We don’t have long. But we can make the most of it with the people we are connected to, while we are still here.

Pottery:

I am grounded in functional pottery as a practice and a genre but am interested especially in pottery as an expanded field. This includes pots for a specific purpose, personal ritual, as a catalyst for a social experience, and with details that reward the sensually observant. The monumental pots that I create memorialize and celebrate economical comfort foods, creating a personal way to honor small comforts that keep us going during tough times. Similarly ritualistic, but on a smaller scale, my pots for daily use encourage, and sometimes even require, the full attention of the user. For example, many of the mugs pictured here have a tenuous relationship with the ground and require care when set down. Some of them need their saucer, support, or stand in order to function fully. Additionally, the shape of the sideways trough cups and the weight of my plates gives them both an intentionally strange balance that encourages further awareness of the task of drinking or the act of carrying. The jars shown here have deep galleries with exaggerated tall handles, while the pitchers I make utilize hollow elements to disrupt the flow of water. Both forms need a steady and firm grip to use them. Other pottery elements that I use to encourage an immersive, intentional experience include use of sound (many pots have hollow areas full of small pieces that ring when shaken), and use of textures and shapes that reward exploration by curious fingers. I create my clay vessels, stands, and serving dishes by using a combination of techniques including pinching, coiling, slab building, and simple molds. Each piece is then woodfired for the rich earthy palette this labor-intensive process lends to each pot. Use is an entry point into the work, but reflections and photographs gathered from participants also become part of the pieces.