Lars Voltz
My explorations within geologic phenomenon, language, mass, volume and diversity of form develop awareness to connections with base materials and environments. My work encompassing vessels built upon dynamic forms, diversely bodied clay and turbulent, colorful wood fired surfaces assert a continued geologic impact on our understanding of the conditions of contemporary life.
Viewing the ceramic vessel as a crucial synergy between the material world and our cultural existence drives my investigations. Smooth volumes, stressed surfaces, thick slashes, jagged edges, ripped and torn segments of a vessel act as abstracted conduits to potent Earth features and physicality while not obliterating inherent containment and presentation properties. Compressing rugged forms with obvious volumes in this way evoke reactive spatial relationships. Ranges of dark color built in the volatile atmosphere of a wood kiln extend connections to material diversity reflected in the world. Dynamic additive and subtractive layering of information through forming and firing, akin to deposition and erosion, point toward constantly shifting our immediate relationship to massive geologic systems.
Ceramic vessels act as agents of metaphor, exploring relationships to severe aspects of geology. Drawing connections between domestic contexts and dramatic geologic forces, I set out to evoke a sense that what shapes our understanding of our surroundings is inherently tumultuous and continually shifting in intimate ways within and beyond our control.
