Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Crista Ames. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Crista thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I was always a creative child; drawing, painting, sewing, beading, and building cardboard houses for my stuffed animals. Expressing myself creatively has always been something I loved and needed to do. When I was 14 I took my first ceramics class and my instructor Mrs. G would invite professional artist into class to give demonstrations. This was the first time I realized that making art could be a career path. She helped me create a portfolio of my artwork so that when I started University I was able to continue my arts education. The artistic path comes with self doubt and Art School really tested me, so that “first time” came several times along those early years in the education of my craft. I didn’t always believe in myself after a difficult critique, but my professors were silently rooting for me. It came as a complete shock when I was named top graduating senior for my Bachelors of Fine Arts class, a privilege that is not based on grades but on artistic promise. That is when I truly started to believe in my artistic path professionally, when I realized my work was impacting the people around me and that they believed in me as an artist.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a figurative ceramic sculptor who creates life size and larger than life size human and animal figures out of clay. I use kilns to chemical change the clay and glazed surfaces into finished ceramic works.

Currently, I live and work as a studio artist, teaching artist, and curator in Ellensburg, Washington. Teaching and curating allow me to gain new perspectives from my students and to inspire ideas and innovations while encouraging community building and an understanding of the importance of art in our everyday lives.

I was raised on a small hobby farm in Kennewick, Washington, where opportunities to explore pastoral life, animal husbandry, women’s craft and fertility have influenced and shaped my art practice. I started creating in clay at the age of 14 and later receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics with minors in Art History and Disability Studies from Washington State University and an Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana where I studied dance and movement to inform the way I sculpt the figure.

Through the layering of mythology, iconography and personal narrative, my work explores how our own animal nature relates to the ways we establish and sustain personal relationships while questioning familiar feminine tropes in art and art history. The sculptures I creates re-examines classic sculpture while re-imagining historic narratives and symbolism.

In bridging the gap between myth and experience, I utilize my artistic practice to create altogether new stories that tell contemporary tales of trauma, joy, and womanhood.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Ceramics is a very humbling medium to work in. There is a lot of potential for loss in every stage of the ceramic process. At my first artist residency post graduate school I was working at my dream residency, The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. I was so excited to be there that I got to work right away and made a lot of work including one larger than life hand that stood around 5′ tall, my largest sculptor yet. When time came to fire the large hand, the fancy computerized kiln malfunctioned and the whole back side of the sculpture had been blown out into tiny, shattered shards. I was devastated not just for the loss of all my hard work and materials, but also for feeling like a failure at a place where so many eyes had been watching my progress. Instead of giving up and only working on small safer sculptures for the rest of my time there, I got to work on another larger-than-life hand, and this time it make it through the firing and the exhibition I had been making for.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

It is hard to choose just one aspect of being an artist as the most rewarding.

The art of turning a block of clay into an animal or human form is magical. There is this moment in sculpting where the hand and eye become so connected, I can just get lost in the process, then my brain catches back up with me and I say to myself, “Wow, I made this? Amazing!”, but sculpting is not always like that. Some days can be off, when my eye and hand won’t connect as well and I say to myself, “Well, let’s try that again tomorrow with fresh eyes.”

I also really enjoy seeing and hearing how people connect to my work. When someone shares with me how my artwork reminded them of a time in their life or made them feel a certain way. That kind of human connection is very rewarding and makes me feel like my artwork has a life beyond me in the studio. I especially like when clients send me photos of how they installed my sculptures in their home. Sometimes their interpretation or instillation will spark a new idea for me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cristaannames.com
• Instagram: @cristaannames
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crista.ames
• Other: https://www.radiusgallery.com/artists/33-crista-ann-ames/works/
  Crista Ann Ames
  https://charliecummingsgallery.com/represented-artists-a-b/crista-ann-ames.html
  https://archiebraygallery.org/products/categories/crista-ann-ames/
  https://yuanru.gallery/art/crista-ann-ames/

Image Credits

Photo Credit: Karl Schwiesow