FORGING WITH FIRE: HILLARY KANE'S CERAMIC SCULPTURE

The millenary aura, the vigour and the fragility of the landscape of Volterra are reflected in the new ceramic sculptures by American multidisciplinary artist Hillary Kane, created during a time of residency amid the breathtaking Tuscan countryside. Gullies of land shaped by water, barren craters and underneath layers of clay take form in this corpus of work born as a continuation of the artist’s human archeology series, whose abstract appearance of sculptural forms belie their direct reference to human anatomy.

At KALPA, we are honoured to present this new series, drawing a metaphorical bridge between the nature of our land and the creative universe of this fascinating ceramicist. Embodying the forces of earth and fire, each of Kane’s pieces emerge with their unique texture and form. Throughout the wood-firing process, tiny particles of ash and sodium float through the kiln as if on a river of flame. Most often, the process culminates in an atmospheric firing wherein the very air within the kiln, suffused with particles, creates a patina that ranges enormously in colour, texture, and sheen.

The sculptures exhibited at KALPA were conceived during an intense art residency at La Meridiana School of Ceramics (Certaldo, Tuscany), an international hub for passionates and professionals of the broader clay community. Le Balze, Amiata, On the Cusp and On Healing are some of the titles chosen by Kane for these works, each of them bearing a double meaning and concept and oscillating in the liminal semantic space of landscape and bodyscape. 

The crater shape of On Healing, for instance, becomes a metaphor for the maternal womb and the essence of the earth which has been transforming since ancient times. Shards become fragmented repositories of hopes, wistful re-imaginings and prayers. Overall, they represent a symbolic process of “ossification of thoughts”, a deliberate dwelling on the tenuous fragility of our very bones, the architecture of our physical presence, and the blink of time we each occupy on these shores.

“Refined slopes and concavities bump up against fiercely torn edges and perforated terrain. Elements juxtapose in deliberate contradiction. Roughness is reconceived in elegance. The paradox of beauty coaxed out of pain.”

“I see my artwork as a window into the realm interior in which the very visceral act of creating is as significant as the final outcome.”

“I am entranced by the visual traces of this creative journey and the slow development of a patina of color and texture, the subtle variation of simple forms, and the impact of the timing, of Time.”

The artist is an expert in wood firing and the traditional anagama kiln, which she constructed and introduced to the island of Bali, Indonesia, where she lives for most of the year. From the Japanese term for “cave”, the anagama is an ancestral method of firing pottery, compared to a huge fire-breathing dragon, by which a high temperature of 1300 celsius is maintained for several days to complete and to produce a wide range of surface effects on the ceramic pieces. Using this kind of kiln is a physically challenging yet deeply spiritual experience for from an alchemic perspective, fire represents transformation, the opportunity to purify unwanted negative energies and to create ones new and positive ones.

Immerse yourself in the entrancing anagama wood-firing ceremony in a poetic documentary narrated by Kane:

“This is the graceful collision of simple organic matter alchemized by the touch of hands, the power of fire, the transformation of earth into stone, of ego into humility, of cinnabar into gold. For me, this is the spontaneity and the journey of what it means to be alive.”

Kane studied painting and printmaking during her B.A. in Studio Art and Art History at l’École des Beaux-Arts à Toulouse in 1996 and at Colby College in 1997. She migrated to the medium of clay after a three-year life-changing experience working with local farmers in a remote village in west Cameroon. An immersion at Penland School of Crafts in 2002 and subsequent experiences in England, New Mexico and Japan solidified her ceramic practice and initiated her into the passionate process of wood-firing. In 2010, she co-founded the Gaya Ceramic Art Center in Ubud, Bali, an educational compendium and production studio with international workshop and artist residency programs, and since then she has continued to live a bi-hemispheral life between Bali and New England.

In recent years, Kane has been teaching workshops and courses at La Meridiana, Alison Palmer Studio in Kent, and the Umbrella Center for the Arts in Concord. Her recent exhibitions include UNEARTHED at the Lacoste Gallery, Concord; Uncommon Ground at Western Wyoming Community College, Rock Springs; and Tea Reflection Craft Alliance, St. Louis. She continues to show regularly at Gaya Ceramic Art Space, Tony Raka Gallery, and John Hardy Jewellery Showroom in Bali, Indonesia.

Photography of the artworks and landscapes of Volterra: Olga Niescier for KALPA

Photography of the studio and creative process: courtesy of the Artist

Quotes by Hillary Kane

KALPA INSTAGRAM