"Dystopia 1" by Clara Hoag |
Clara Hoag had hit a wall.
Uninspired by her ceramic sculptures, Hoag needed a new
visual language for her works of art. After sketching and drawing, she realized
that, in order to move forward, she needed to remove the human form from her
sculptures.
For her work in the “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” Hoag
created works of art inspired by architecture, which she uses to describe the
construction of people and the world. The show will feature a large
installation of houses and buildings scattered around the floor, a collection
of small and broken porcelain houses, a towering ceramic sculpture with a
secret window and a grouping of prints and drawings made with graphite, coffee
and spackling paste, among other materials.
“My process involves a lot of experimentation: over-firing
clay, under-firing glazes, wedging raw materials into my clay, building with
multiple clay bodies and gluing fragments of my work together post-firing,”
said Hoag. She said the art in her exit show developed from the trial and error
that came from “breaking the rules.”
Hoag has received two BFA degrees from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is an MFA candidate at the University of
Georgia. She has participated in both group and solo shows in Illinois, Georgia
and Florida. She is represented by two galleries in Illinois, her home state.
Hoag uses her sculptures to describe her interest in human
psychology. Her works of art deal with the nature of human life and how people
can be “destructive, subversive, deceptive or profoundly good,” according to
Hoag.
“My soaring skyscrapers,
complex scaffolding, and accumulations of slum housing describe the complexity
of 21st-century life—from the dynamic social structures that keep our world
running to the systemic problems that oppress us every day,” said Hoag.
For Hoag, single buildings highlight both individuality and
the mundane. Stability and fragility act as opposing forces seeking balance.
Her works of art can be small or large, delicate or aggressive.
Hoag is currently applying to residency programs across the country.
She hopes to travel in order to see new places and meet new people to help her
learn about the “beauty, ugliness and mystery of the world.”
The “Master of Fine Arts Degree Candidates Exhibition” is on
view at the Georgia Museum of Art March 16 to April 22, 2013, with an opening
reception in conjunction with 90 Carlton: Spring on March 22. MFA Speaks is
scheduled for March 21 at 5:30 p.m. and will feature the artists discussing
their work.
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