Ayla Mullen
Olympia, WA | Exhibiting Since 2020
I see pots as vessels for storytelling. They can invoke thoughts, memories, and emotions which enliven a moment or an entire day. Clay is my canvas and my collaborator. Together I explore how to convey the poetry of the natural world within the limits of a vessel. What is the formal vocabulary of emotion? What voice does the clay have in the storytelling? Is it possible to give growing things a voice of their own, through artistic representation? These questions guide my making and still leave me wondering and curious. Each plant and pattern is inlaid into the clay with my own nostalgia, hope, and reverence for the lives and stories of the green and tendrilled world. My hope is that these stories, carved in clay, will expand and individualize within the home, taking on a life of their own like the best folktales, through the accrued layers of meaning which use and touch bring to everything familiar.