We recently connected with Clementine Wright-Zenner and have shared our conversation below.

Clementine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project for me so far in my career has been my time at Creekside Artist Residency. This residency took place in the beautiful redwood forests of Northern California. I was invited to come for 3 weeks and create a body of work based on my ideas around ephemerality, transformation and impermanence. I was excited to have my own studio space and time to create my own work after teaching sculpture courses to college students the past year. Nearly every morning or afternoon I would walk the trail around the residency space to clear my head and prepare for creating work. There were five other artists invited and we all came together around meals and artist talks with the community. We were asked as part of this residency to create a community service project around our interests. I was paired with Rick Gradone and we were tasked to teach a community class to the prolific adult group Trajectory which consisted of talented disabled adults in their community. Rick and I also wanted to create a public art piece together that was to be an evolving art installation created in part by Trajectory artists during our workshop with them. We called this piece, “Ring of Fire” referring to the geological dynamics of the Pacific plate as well as the sacred space that this quiet contemplative space created for individuals to come and create. We pieced things together through repurposed items found at a local junkyard that was juxtaposed among the tall and silent sentients forest dwelling. I was also able to do a pit firing with ceramic slip during my time there honoring the birds of the area around me that had passed on. I met life long friends there and transformed my practice in meaningful ways.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am ceramic sculptural artist that fell in love with the feel of clay in my hands during undergrad at CSUF. I also dabbled in cast and hand formed hot glass while there and attended Pilchuck Glass School in Stanwood Washington for classes after graduating. I ended up taking a job there one summer because the area was so beautiful and the forests so haunting. I create sculptural works that are difficult to describe as I create each piece intuitively. I work with the themes of ephemerality and impermanence in my work through the use of bone, ash, burned out antique lace and flowers. In my latest residency at The Common Well in Garden City, I have been creating wall plates with these glazed and fired materials as well as vessels based on stalagmite and stalactite forms that I observed while hiking the Oregon caves last summer. I have been told that my work looks very different than other ceramic artists and that it lends itself to an archeological dig. My work is built around themes of loss, grief and the innate inability to halt time.

“All conditioned things have the nature of vanishing. ” Siddhartha

The heart of my work of impermanence is that all things, all phenomena arise out of transient conditions and the conditions that cease to arise. All things vanish and transform into something else. This is the heart of my work right now.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson for me to unlearn was to stop the critique in my head, to stop the constant evaluation of what is considered good and bad. I was driven in graduate school to explain my work in a way that was cerebral, logical and cut off from my own creative intuition. I was told by my professors and graduate committee what was acceptable and valued. I ended up near the end of my graduate program asking them what they wanted from me so I could graduate. They had all but snuffed out my creative spark with critique and observations. I had to unlearn the harsh critic in my head that would constantly evaluate and fear what other people would think. My art now is full of experiments and possibility. I have let myself push the material and myself into new realms as I let go of what others think of my work. I know I have an audience that will ultimately view my work, but I am much more in tune with my own inner voice and wisdom that guides and directs my hands as I create. Creating in this way is much more satisfying to my soul and it is apparent in the work.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

I think a mission driving my work and creative journey is the curiosity that I hold towards my creations. I let myself try new approaches and materials to tell the stories in visual narrative. I am not tied to ceramic material even though I love the malleability and endurance of clay. I want to keep exploring all materials that will best show my ideas about life , death, and the transcendence that occurs within all sentient beings. I love sharing my ideas and inspirations with my students and people who view my work. I am a creator through and through.

Contact Info:

• Website: artforashes.carbonmade.com, http://clementinezennerart.com/
• Instagram: clementine_zen_clay
• Facebook: Clementine Zenner
• Linkedin: clementine wright

Image Credits
Clementine Wright-Zenner