Annie McDonald - Artist Statement

Through the objects I make, I expose inner responses to life- to the general and to the particular. A figure can wear her politics, her culture or her personal history. Sometimes the stuff she swims in is an emotional bath: calm or murky water, a primordial soup… impossible waves.

I enjoy experiencing materials. For instance, the clay’s physical forces must be respected. I love thinking about the ceramic process as akin to earth and rock formation. The entire drama is there in the making: layers, folds, gravity, compression, particle alignment, moisture, mineral reactions and extreme heat. Conversely, stone is at the finished end of a similar process. It is hard and resists manipulation; it’s there to be reckoned with as the working is removal. I work extensively, intensively, in both materials, and lately, I’ve added steel bands and fabric to the mix; each material has a voice and a language of its own!

My sculpture practice brings two realms together - the physical with the ethereal - as I capture thoughts or feelings while making the work.