Since The California Clay Competition at The Artery in Davis was cancelled, I have offered to interview and highlight some of the artists here. I decided to volunteer to do this because I thought the competition had some great work this year and it would be interesting to hear some different perspectives on what is being done with clay. Plus, most of the fun around this show comes from meeting the artists attending the Ceramic Sculpture Conference CCACA.
Amanda Thomas
Amidst the backdrop of Covid-19 and BLM protests, this week the California Clay Competition artist is Amanda Thomas. Historically a painter, Amanda’s job as an Instructional Support Specialist in Fine Arts at College of the Siskious affords her access to the ceramic’s studio. Over the past few years, she has fallen in love with clay.
Amanda is a multidisciplinary artist who is moving out of a body of work examining her place as a woman and a mother to questioning humanity’s role on Earth. “Our primary mythologies point toward the end of the world, asserting that early life is a transitory stepping stone to the eternity of heaven or damnation, and that the balance of good and evil will come to a head in some apocalyptic scenario requiring a holy savior. Our economic systems disregard the inherent value of life. How do these ideologies and our tenets of dominance and superiority contribute to our destructiveness and disregard for our fellow species and each other? How will we step forth into the future? It feels like a critical time. Is our destruction inevitable?...These questions are in the back of my mind as I write lyrics for songs, take photographs and sculpt.”
Currently working on a life-sized human figure where not all of the concept details are hammered out, Amanda trusts the concept will solidify as she builds. Amanda uses recycled B-mix with a combination of underglazes, terra sigillata and copper oxide washes. Small pieces can take two weeks, where a large life-sized work can take up to a year. Amanda builds in spurts. As a solo parent, balancing in the studio time with life is a huge challenge. “I had to abandon housework in favor of art of I’d hardly have a creative life.”
Amanda has received the Jurors Award at Arc Gallery and has had a sculpture featured in a gallery performance at Z Space, both in San Francisco. Her works will also be showing at the Siskiyou Arts Museum show “Great Expectations” in Dunsmuir, CA. Amanda has been accepted at UC Santa Barbara and UC Davis art programs and will be going back to school next year. “I am proud of my ability to maintain a consistent practice and continue to grow as an artist despite life circumstances that could easily stand in my way”
See more work by Amanda Thomas at: www.instagram.com/amandathomasart
