Koplin Del Rio Gallery is delighted to present "The Passage", an exhibition of ceramic sculpture by Seattle-based artist Jodi Rockwell, marking her first solo presentation with the gallery.

The works in "The Passage" are the product of Rockwell’s decades-long examination, in ceramic media, of form and material as they relate to gravity, landscape and the body. Jodi is recognized for her shape-shifting clay vessels which emit a human presence and ethereal connectivity, often derived from the natural world - lava flow, rocks, naturally occurring fungi and growth on trees and bodies of water.

Primarily created with wheel-thrown clay, the resulting vessels are then impacted and transformed by various actions of the artist; whether dropping, compressing, throwing or collapsing the pieces inward, in an attempt to convey a range of human interaction and response. This process in the studio and the range of expression in the resulting works led Rockwell to consider Jungian theory and key archetypes. Thus, the works in "The Passage" are united by a narrative which traverses and examines various psychic states as they relate to the Jungian archetypes: The Self, The Persona, The Shadow and the Anima / Animus.

“I found during the process that the more personal my work veered, the more universal it became.”

Each sculpture in "The Passage" in its Earthy tactility, is organic, animate and gestural in nature, and emits its own psychological frequency. Presented as a whole, these emotive bodies capture a full spectrum of the human experience in clay, drawing & installation. In what is essentially a universal psychic journey laid out reflectively by the artist, one will find evidence of nurture, care and tenderness, of grief, loss, and torment, of transformation & reflection, and finally, of calm and stability.

“Long-awaited, a recent 6-week solo trip to Japan allowed me to practice existing in the present and use intuition to navigate, which is also how I approach my studio practice. Clay has given me a sense of purpose in my life and I deeply respect Japan’s culture of craft. This inspired me to visit Japanese pottery villages built around ancient kilns and the studios of contemporary, traditional artists. Surprisingly, I did not learn new ceramic techniques in Japan. Instead, I experienced the power of subtlety, sacred space and silence.”

Images: Theodora Teodosiadis