As a maker I truly believe in the power of material, and in terms of fine art I consider material directly interconnected with meaning. My current practice is a process-based exploration of traditional craft, in a contemporary context; which highlights specific and familiar materials, and the intrinsic properties of ceramics, fibers and glass. I am always interested in how certain materials and processes can carry historic, gender-based and domestic baggage with them. Interested in the vessel as a quintessential icon in craft and a method of defining utilitarianism, I often seek out specific domestic, objects that can be altered and refabricated in non-traditional materials. My work often strives to strip objects of their inherent function to offer a unique dialogue relating to materiality, objecthood and value. 

The use of ceramic, glass and fibers in my work has a direct correlation to the history of commodification and intrinsic value of material. As my interests in traditional craft materials merge with contemporary design and objects from the home; I have become fascinated by the concept of “magical thinking” that seem to connect objects to good fortune, bad luck, faith and mysticism. My future studio practice and research will continue to investigate objects through lenses of domesticity, ritual and materiality. While my work always strives to present the viewer with familiar objects in unfamiliar ways, I hope to transform the mundane in new mythologies.

@ma_twix

https://www.matthewdrennanwicks.com