Max Baez

ARTIST STATEMENT

Space II and Space III are the continuations of my of Space series. The series as a whole is puts a twist on my method of creating larger ceramic pots. I throw anywhere from two to five sections for a pot, depending on its size, and stack them on top of each other to create a larger piece. The Space series is a play on the this idea of sections where I remove one section of the pot and replace it with interwoven wires and copper threads. I am very fortunate to have a stone carving and metalworking studio directly next to the pottery studio at my school which gives me a large supply of scrap metal and wire which I can repurpose into my pots. In the case of Space II the woven upper part of the pot was heavily influenced by the work of Polly Jacobs Giacchina who utilizes this weaving technique in much of her work. I was fortunate enough to have been able to do a workshop with her and learn the wire weaving technique from her which then ultimately inspired the creation of Space II. In Space III I continue to develop the series by moving away from just taking off the top section of the pot and instead taking out pieces in the side of the pot. This piece is also inspired by Giacchina’s techniques, although this uses random weaving instead of the knotless weaving. The wire in this piece also works much more in harmony with the ceramic since it wraps around the pot unlike in previous pieces where there is a clear starting and stopping point. This provided for a bit of a challenge since the thicker wire which wraps around the piece was very unwieldy and tough to bend into the exact shape to fit the piece. All in all I am very satisfied with how both pieces turned out and I am excited to continue to develop this series and create more new and exciting work. ​