Master of Fine Arts Thesis Solarium Justin Donofrio Submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirement for the degree of Master of Fine Arts, School of Art and Design Division of Ceramic Art New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University Alfred, New York 2021 Justin Donofrio, MFA Thesis Advisors: John Gill, Johnathan Hopp, Matt Kelleher, Walter McConnell, Meghan Smythe, and Adero Willard 2 Abstract: The original purpose of a ‘Solarium’ (or sunroom) is to gather as much light as possible, allowing for an outdoor feel within an interior space. The exhibition revolves around the radiant contrasts of light and shadow at dawn and dusk, when the sun is low in the sky. There is a desire to capture and pay homage to the visual reverberations and transitions in lines and shapes. The luminous morning light reveals shapes and forms across the landscape interacting in overlapping layers. The colors are built into the structure of the environment. As a rock climber and clay worker I build relationships of material qualities in the vessels, structures, forms, and rock climbing. Tension, balance, and compression mirror mental and physical strain reflected in the body of the climber or in the material qualities present in the vessels, structures and relationships I construct. There is a visual and physical weight of the different states of clay, raw to high fired and everywhere in between and I pay attention and use all with awareness. These concepts are all connected through a form of ideological material inquisition and pursuit of ephemerality within the fading life of wet clay. Within this, I’m looking for compositions to explore volume and implied volume to construct a kinesthetic visual experience. This concept is harkening back to a physical response to the continuum between clay and ceramic, climber and rock. 3 Enter: (The Front Door Studio/Mind Space) I’m fascinated by the way light manipulates form. The radiance of contrast, created during both dawn and dusk when the sun is low in the sky, shape and resurface in my ceramic practice. These, for me, are some of the most tranquil, and meditative hours, of each new and passing day. My work arises in these moments between light and dark, dawn and dusk, night and day. There is a desire to capture and reflect on these visual reverberations and transitions in lines and shapes which interact in overlapping layers. I walk into the studio as the sun is setting. Making sure to stop, I take a deep breath and fill my senses. I work through the night to maintain a connection to the vision. I walk home as the sun is coming up and meditate on the studio session. I am alone taking in a waking world. Clay is the medium I choose to articulate my relationship with light, shadow, landscape and these moments of transition and contemplation. Solarium, Fosdick Nelson Gallery, Alfred University, 2021. 4 Minute Movements: (Internal/External) Tension, balance, and compression mirror mental and physical strain reflective of my experiences as climber and clay worker. I build relationships of material qualities in the vessels, structures, forms, and through climbing. There is a physical dexterity built in the haptic sensibilities and immediacy of feedback in both climbing and clay, as information is sent from the fingertip to the brain. There is a profound connection to the state of the body and the way we think.1 The work and process reflect how I feel when climbing. The endorphins release with emotional and physical struggle and are in search of capturing a moment. I’m inspired by the line in the landscape, constants and the variables in climbing and clay. I’ve versed my muscle memory in practiced movements, which become the visual language of handling the material. Is there a fundamental tension between known fixed solutions and unknown and uncertain terrain of both practices? Seurat, Bouldering Mt. Evans, CO. Image-David C. Pierce. 1 Bohm, David. Thought as a System. Routledge, 2015, 9. 5 Search for the Summit: (What Goes Up Must Come Down) In rock climbing and clay working there are lines or sequences from beginning to end. In each process, these pathways are circular, in that once you reach the summit there really is only one place to go. Ascend, to sink back, and ascend again. It is the processes in the middle that keeps me coming back. John Gill, the preeminent rock climber (not the ceramic the artist), says “In bouldering, you’re concerned as much--if not more--with form, style, elegance, and route difficulty as you are with getting to the top.”2 The summit is only as rewarding as the work put in to reach it. There are many ways to reach for the summit of a rock face. Aid gear (usually metal manmade objects) can be placed temporarily or permanently fixed to the rock’s surface. For example, a piton is a steel sharp implement similar in shape to a railroad spike which is hammered into an existing crack in the rock. Sport climbing routes are bolted with a drill in order for Rusty Bolt, Permanent Rock-Climbing Aid carabiners to be used for safety and Gear Placed in Rock. assistance in holding the climber. In Traditional or Trad-climbing the camelots, 2 Ament, Pat. John Gill: Master of Rock: the Life of a Bouldering Legend. Sheffield: Vertebrate Publishing, 2018. 6 hexes, or nuts come in all different sizes and are placed into existing rock features of similar shape. These are removed completely once the climb is finished. Alternatively, soloing or bouldering is climbing with just shoes and fingertips. I do say I’m a minimalist at heart, just me clinging to razor sharp edges; with only the lichen covered swaths of granite to keep me company. There’s no rope to get in my way or fumbling with aid gear. The focus is on the material at hand. Just me and the climbing, or me and clay making. The solitude of these experiences parallel each other equally in immensity. There’s a unique calibration of minute movements between internal and external elements. Listening, as call and response, to natural forces, happens both in the making process, and the wilderness. All the variable elements that can assist or impede, obscure, or reveal in both climbing and clay. These ways of reaching for the summit are visible in the work. The conversation between the stained bare clay and glaze obscures or reveals a bodily response to a continuum between clay and ceramic, clothes and skin, gear or no gear. The springs, slings, or ceramic noodles act as a transfer of this energy and movement much like the camelot, quick draw, or crash pad in the climbing discipline. The overhang is the keystone to the visual On Repetition (detail), Stoneware and Porcelain, Terra Sigillata, 2021. complexity. 7 Crimp, mono, lock off, open hand, stem, mantle, toe hook, hand jamb, ring lock, smear - some combination of these moves accumulates to the completion of a climb. There are only so many types of problems. With the intuitive response to the materials this is mirrored in my studio. I’m curious how seemingly separate parts interact within a system of movements. Stacking, throwing, pinching, slab building, all stand-alone as methods and integrate into fixed and unfixed connections and conceptual relationships. I split, slice, rip, dip, pinch, squeeze as the movements come together in varying order and consistency. In general, if it doesn’t feel right, I jump off as I am searching for a full-body and mind experience without impending death. However, some of the best experiences come from pushing past the limits of my grip, expectations, anticipations, and fear. Climbing and Geologic Formations in Rocky Mountain National Park, Rocklands South Africa, Fontainebleau France, Squamish BC. 8 Geologic Eye that Winks: (It’s a Relationship) The rhythm of movement through the mountains has always had a way of wearing away the rough edges, smoothing and rounding. Over time I have learned to soften my relationship with clay. The process of making molds casts away the rougher edges of the work much like the erosion of the elements. It inspires me to build with less tension. The wilderness humbles me by surface and color compositions. Whether high up in the alpine tundra or within depths of desert canyons, these layers in material time are unique. In my climbing travels all over the world, I have witnessed many transmutations of earth. I have felt Ascension (Cylider Detail), Unfired Red Stoneware, Burnished Stained Terra Sigilata. with my own hands the distinct texture of glacier dropped granite, and the water manicured softness of ancient sandstone. As an explorer, I’ve had the opportunity to witness marble from the top of a cathedral in Italy or a fossilized imprint embedded within sandstone in South Africa. These experiences both reveal qualities that I’m questioning about human’s relationship with materials and nature. Each place has specific characteristics expressed in the geologic forms, foliage, and bodies of water interacting with one another. These visual vibrations 9 are a conduit of time through action and reaction of seismic transfers of energy and movement. Specifically, this travel has been a distinction to the qualities of color that I put into my work, the hues and tones are meant to transport the viewer as I see this as a source of unending vitality in my own experience. The colors in these places are built into the structure of the environment. A mossy green waterfall, the ambrosia sand of a shoreline, or the muddy blue bank of a winding river can articulate a beautiful gradient of transition.