Post 16 Fall 2024

To start I will say I don't even know what words to use! I am ecstatic with the way this week happened and my reception came together even more beautifully than I could have imagined. I have since uninstalled my show and being in Acorn Gallery will never be the same. As I can not imagine what to write that would encompass the joy I experienced this week I will add below my speech that I delivered for those who attended the reception as well as images of my show and from the reception. You can see a full image gallery of my show under the BFA tab on my website.

"Hello and thank you all for coming to my show! I first want to thank all of you for being here and my professors for giving me the tools I needed to accomplish this show. I want to give a special thanks to my professor, John Cummings, as he has given me an outlet to excel and an abundance of information over the course of my time here at Clemson that allowed me to finally create a crystalline glaze that actually works and create a conceptual show that I am proud of. Throughout my time here at Clemson, I have bounced through many ideas as to what this show would look like. When I first got to Clemson, it was photography, which turned into sculpture, printmaking, and finally ceramics. I was in John’s first beginning ceramics course here at Clemson. That was the first time I had ever made something out of clay, and I immediately fell in love with it. When I was growing up, I was always making something, or I think my mom would say I was always taking something apart. My grandparents were a big part of this, as when I was homeschooled in elementary school, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with them and learn from them on both sides of the scale. My grandmother, who is here with us tonight, taught me how to sew and cook cajun food and keep a home. My grandfather, who passed away in 2020, taught me how to work on cars, sandblast without any safety equipment, and tend a crawfish pond. My grandmother's first language was Cajun French. She learned English when she went to elementary school, as she wasn’t allowed to speak French there. Cajun people were not revered highly at this time and were being forcefully assimilated into other cultures. The Acadian or Cajun French people were not seen as Americans but rather simply Cajun. Due to this perception, this stayed with her throughout her life and followed through with how I was raised. We went to the Cajun French Music Association, and my grandfather and I even won a few two-step competitions, but I was still to carry myself like an American. Throughout my life, I learned a whole host of skills across many different walks of life. I can sew, work on cars, dance, and do household construction such as plumbing, electrical, and roofing, and here I am as an art major. These forms you see before you in the gallery are all representative of facets of myself. Three of these are traditional feminine expectations, and three are more masculine. The use of corsetry in my work speaks to the historical context of corsets being used to control women and dictate proper fashion, as well as the more contemporary meaning of sexual empowerment and strength. As a society, we have never gotten rid of the corset. We just turned it into liposuction exercise trends and diet fads. As for the crystalline glaze, it is a highly technical glaze approach that is chemistry and hopeful wishes heavy. When I first decided to go down this rabbit hole John said "Go ahead but if you mess up a kiln, you have to fix it" and I was off to the races. It is something that artists have sought to refine and control, though as much as you can change a glaze composition and firing schedule, you still can’t dictate where the crystals form on the work. I have thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with this glaze and truly believe that it is something I will continue to pursue intently for a long time following my graduation. I use porcelain in my work, which has a perception of being very fragile, though, unlike fabric, it will not dry rot and fall apart. It is also a stronger material than our skin, making it a sort of ceramic coating or protective layer between me and people's perceptions, these corsets forms and adorning items are meant to allow you to look at versions of myself while also contemplating what it would mean for these body forms to all be replaced a woman and how that woman would then be perceived in those spaces this is a new conceptual journey for me and seeing it in this gallery for the first time has been quite the experience if you have any questions I would love to try and answer them for you."

Having the opportunity to exhibit this work was a dream but I will say I am so excited to continue working with this concept after graduation and continue to create art in my own time without the overhead pressure of grades and graduation. I could not be more thankful for all of my teachers and my time at Clemson as a BFA candidate and I can proudly say I MADE IT!

See y'all in a little while! Im signing off for now. Love, Hailey B :)