Essay About Virginia Scotchie And Virginia Scotchies Works

Virginia Scotchie Is a Ceramic Artist
Virginia Scotchie is a ceramic artist, primarily based in Columbia, South Carolina in the United States
of America, and teaches at the University of South Carolina. Her work has been and is exhibited
extensively throughout the United States and internationally, including Australia, France, Taiwan
and China. Scotchie says that most of her inspiration, for her work, comes from the world around
her and many of her works can be seen as drawn from inspiration of everyday objects, such as
childrens toys, cups and bowls. “As a maker of art I search for new forms within the context of my
day to day world”. Virginia Scotchies works are generally installation and mimic mass produced
objects that are all handmade, generally with the use of a combination of the coil construction
method and slab construction method that is flattened and smoothed with rubber mallets, and
generally without the use of design drawings before the construction of the work. Scotchie often
arranges her works in a way that is open to individual interpretation and that suggest personal
relationships to the audience that are sometimes unknown even to themselves. She generally always
works in series and creates works of various sizes, including both large and small objects within the
same installation group, and with the use of a variety of shapes and colours that connect the work.
Her works are not created for traditional use but are created with the aim to be aesthetically
pleasing, and visually enjoyed and experienced.
Virginia Scotchie holds a strong sense of family which is evident through
regular representations of family in her work. One of her installations
‘Familia features ceramic pots of different sizes and various, though
similar, glazes arranged in front of enlarged photographs of her family. The title ‘Familia is also in
reference to her family and her Polish-Italian heritage and the work illustrates family connections.
This idea of family is evident in other of her installations. Scotchie often installs sculpture in groups
that appear unrelated and work as individual sculptures when presented