My work is based on a personal curiosity of womens' position within society. I use clay to pipe, draw, construct, and weave issues of concern related to my own development as a woman. My past is rooted in the Deep South full of unwavering traditions of the female role within society. I draw my inspiration from poems, artists, and objects centuries old, uniquely connected to the female, in order to confront inherent issues of appearance, status, and character. In considering these stereotypes, I want to create work that questions our futures that currently hang in limbo.
" Jump jump jump
And leave behind
Everything evil
That we may find."
-Kate Greenaway
Kate Roberts Resume.pdf
Hello! My name is Kate Roberts. I am a Ceramic Artist from Greenville, South Carolina. I am a recent BFA graduate from Alfred University School of Art and Design, where it took awhile for my Southern skin to adjust to the freezing winters in Alfred, NY. My technique is different than many ceramicists. I use a slump body clay and pipe it out of a cake decorating tube. I want to continue to create and push the ceramic body as far as it can go.
Please contact me below or at kate.s.roberts_gmail.com
or visit my blog http://katesroberts.wordpress.com !
I look forward to hearing from you!
This work is a collection of two dresses addressing womens' position within 19th century Southern society. Outwardly these women took on various stereotypes and appearances within public society; however, inwardly they dealt with issues of entrapment, isolation, and oppression. Melanie Dress and Scarlet Dress are based on the characters from the biblical Southern novel and film Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. My connection to these characters is largely based on the film version of which I watched at an early age. The tragic but elegant fall of Scarlet down the stairs will forever be ingrained in my memory. It is this visual perception of these two characters that drives my work. By striping these womens dresses down to their skeleton, connecting it with floral, bird, and fence like imagery, and displaying it like a china doll, it speaks about centuries of womens' struggle with the issue of appearance vs. reality.
This dress was the beginning for a series addressing womens position within 19th century Southern society. Outwardly these women took on various stereotypes and appearances within public society; however, inwardly they dealt with issues of entrapment, isolation, and oppression. Striping these womens dress down to their skeleton, connecting it with floral and bird imagery, and displaying it in a theatrical light, it addresses the universal theme of appearance vs. reality.
The doily is a delicate image of womens entrapment within the art of handicraft. The gossip of their daily lives is recorded within each stitch of the handmade form. In covering the faces of the women by the translucent form, the piece becomes a metaphorical veil for plight of womens rights.
The poems and illustrations of childrens illustrator Kate Greenaway, create an insight into the thoughts of women during the 19th century. Within her poem The Little Jumping Girls, Greenaway speaks of their possible liberation from a male dominated society. In taking the silhouette of Greenaways girls, voiding them of their form, their becomes a question of the accomplished past or possibility for the future in her powerful words: "Jump jump jump And leave behind Everything evil That we may find."
During a train ride from New Brunswick, New Jersey to New York City, I passed through numerous neighborhoods and small towns organized into rows of houses and businesses that all looked very similar. I began to think about how much we try to pack everything into such a small area. I begun to also consider the neighborhoods in the suburb I grew up in. The houses were not only grouped tightly together, all of them looked the same.
This piece was created to question the increase in urbanization around us and our own search for individuality when everything around us is the same. The houses are arranged like a conveyer belt and leave the viewer to question whether they are coming or going. The size of each house in relation to the viewer will show that in essence we have the power to keep this from happening.
The following body of work was made during a Residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, CO. Before arriving at the Ranch, I went through a year of transformations, from finishing school to traveling through Europe. I began and ended many relationships throughout this time. I began to question the physical and mental properties of a relationship, more specifically a relationship based on love. The more I discussed with others, I found similarities in our stories. This work is a reflection of my studies and shows my need to return to a more tactile process in order to work through these questions. I chose to use bird imagery and the changing of seasons to convey the emotions we feel and the body language we reveal in order to show the temperance of these relationships.
These make great presents!
Contact me via this site under the tab marked Contact or by email at kate.s.roberts_gmail.com for information on pricing.
Look forward to hearing from you!
