Today we’d like to introduce you to Ariana Kier.
Who are your biggest artistic influences?
Akira Satake was the first potter whose body of work had a real effect on me. His technical approach helped me end the stage of trying to prove my worth through perfection. His philosophy on balance and movement in the material is so succinct it almost feels as though some of his vases were grown, rather than built. The scale and personality of Kazunori Hamana’s floor vases have been by sole draw towards large form pieces. There is no competitive angle, or attempt at uniformity. They appear as bursting joy to me. I have always appreciated how he presents his work and life on the web. It is clear he isn’t attached to the fine details of social curation. I would also love to be a fisherman and farmer, with a wooden deck overlooking that valley. Kazunori Ohnaka makes works that are so deeply textured, they feel like ancient volcanic ores, but richer. He sculpts incredibly precarious “broken” forms, which seems much easier to do than it actually is, and reminds me of my love of archeological ceramic remains. Neri Oxman is my greatest professional influence. Her relationship with nature and philosophy around her work merges art, science and design in ways that speak to every part of me. I feel lucky to have been able to look to her work and career as a guide for how I can carve my own path in the future of natural material engineering, with my own unique focus on ceramics.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I dream and conceptualize far more than I make. I have many notebooks full of in-depth backgrounds of form concepts, integrating methods I’m unsure are even possible to implement, connecting every craft I’ve seen glimmers of. Blossoming ideas which have no applicable roots in reality yet reminds me of why I love Da Vinci and the idea of innovating for a far from reach future. It is funny to compare my standing body of work to how I’m expressing my creative process now, because writing, compiling information and dreaming are my favorite parts of what I do. The work I physically make is oftentimes simple and straight forward, because the process of making a simple form with your hands feels similarly satisfying to dreaming up a complex one. Archeological remains, biological structures + scientific systems, fellow material scientists, color. There is really no line between what influences me or not, artists are sponges which absorb life from every angle and attempt to echo a sliver of the original energy into their work. Inspiration is a soup. Nature is a dependable place.
Do you have a piece on show with an especially interesting story behind it?
Most always when I do show a piece of work, it is because it has a story behind it that I find beautiful and meaningful enough to share (remind me to write more of these stories on my website). I’m a bit bored now of all the finished work I’ve done up to this point. Which is funny, considering it spans continents, oceans and even atmospheres (red meteorite dust). Sediments
have so many cultural, artistic and scientific histories and applications. I have ways I’d love to expand each project I have done to encapsulate more of their meaning, as well as plenty of new concepts for materials in my collection I have yet to begin. The book I’m writing is an attempt to do that, but it requires a lot of fostered relationships and a lot of listening. I’m trying not to rush it but it is above all, the thing I’m most excited to get out into the world, for the goal of creating more connections about the love for earth’s humblest materials.
What are your biggest challenges as an artist?
It’s challenging to monetize my art without sacrificing its spirit and authenticity. I wish I could live solely on trades and shared interest, but that’s not the world I am in at the moment. Grants and industry funding allows me to dive deeper into the concepts that are important to me without constantly having to think of how to package it for a consuming eye. I’ve never really had a shop, and even the times I have sold larger works, I am one of those artists who wish I could be an in-contact surrogate, with allowed visits every so often, which is why I usually give works away to collaborators of community members who have influenced the work. I don’t know if there is a world where I can have a steadily supplied online shop. This is in part because the time and energy put into the materials prior to the making would set the price point so high that it would only be available to a select few, and I don’t want to be curating my style for any particular audience.
How do you structure or day/week/month as an artist?
My work flow changes like the seasons.I like to think of them as seasons of input and seasons of output. Expression is only possible for me if I allow myself undisclosed periods of absorption and introspection. The more life I live the more poignant and earnest my work will be, in my view. I don’t imagine myself making my greatest collections until my 60s or 70s. In a world that rushes you to perfection, and vilifies old age, it’s a belief I have to actively engage. On a day to day basis, like most potters, once you have revolving work, evaporation is your metronome. Pieces to be trimmed, fired, glazed and sometimes refired are always in flux. Honestly, most of my time now is spent in meetings, research labs, working on books and gathering geological data. I’m about to begin a large soil sampling project, and return to doing lectures, so the next few months will have lots more time in uncharted waters, and classrooms. I’ll have to make a point to seek out wilderness to stay present and grateful.
How do you stay motivated and productive in your art practice?
I don’t have to stay motivated in my art practice because every action in my life trickles downstream into the ocean of my art practice. Whether I am teaching, watching television or going on a walk, it all is a part of my art practice. If I don’t force the output then there is no need to force anything else. It feels like wind blowing, sometimes the creativity is there moving and plain to see, and sometimes it is not, but no trouble either way because the wind blowing is an intrinsic part of nature which will inevitably make its return. This is why relying on art for income can potentially dismantle the journey towards personal expression and style. It is a delicate balance. Productivity is a beast when it is there, because if there is a concept ready to come to fruition, especially if it is connected to a deadline, there is no hour on the clock that can stop the creating. I try to call on friends and my partner to help me consume food during these periods of intense output, but it is a climax that always passes, and something I look forward to as the momentum of the project increases from germination.
What are your long term goals for your artistic career?
My long term goals in my artistic career.. Well I would hate to have the whole thing planned out. I hope that my work speaks to people enough to push their hands into dirt when they are feeling low, and to remember they are inseparable from that sediment. Even if we spend our lives convincing ourselves otherwise, we will return to it anyway. Dirt is not the geologically correct term, as dirt is categorized as soil that has been displaced, devoid of nutrients, it is a derogatory word. But I love to reclaim it in rebellious admiration, because regardless of its current setting, it has a rich history, millions of years of effort, movement and evolution, to become something so disrespected that humans have coined the phrase “treated like dirt.” I hope my work also motivates the newly inspired to be swept with reverence for the indigenous communities who have advocated for the spirits and meaning of these materials for generations. I try to use my craftsmanship as a stage for the materials and their stewards, maybe until I am old and wise enough to have something profound of my own to say.
Contact information:
- Website: www.ollaceramics.com
- Email: info@ollaceramics.com
- Instagram: @olla.ceramics
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