Repetitions & Variations

Ceramic sculpture by Dawn Hart and Heather Hubbard.

April 6th–30th, 2017
Clay Hand Studios
660 Van Ness Ave
Fresno, CA 93721

Artist’s Statement

Plants fascinate me, especially when considering the efforts to which they go in order to successfully reproduce. No matter the species, at some pivotal point in its development, a plant will be driven by its own biology to sacrifice its well-being for the sake of the next generation. It will reallocate valuable resources and endure numerous hardships in order to achieve pollination and ovule fertilization. It will spend weeks, months, and for some species, years developing and protecting its seeds. And before a plant sends its offspring into the world, it provides each seed with a nutrient start-up kit and a durable protective coat, parting gifts from the parent to ensure its seed may have some chance of surviving the inclement weather conditions and a host of herbivores and pathogens that surely await.

Some seeds are flung, some take flight, and others hitch a ride in the digestive systems of fruit eating animals. No matter the method of dispersal, most seeds never make it to hospitable land. Fewer still make it past germination stage. It is the rarest of seedlings that reaches adulthood to repeat this reproductive process.

What is left behind once the seed is free of its parent plant is an empty vessel. Their purpose fulfilled, these capsules and pods become discarded symbols of hope for future generations, left to decompose and return to the soil.

In this collection of work, I have chosen to focus my attention on this repeating process, honoring both the optimism a seed represents and the discarded vessel it leaves behind.