Visual Poetry: Alumni & Current Student Artists
Zoe Nelson
Website - https://www.zoemnelson.art/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/zmn.art/
Bio:
Zoe Nelson (b. 1994, Stockton, CA) completed their undergrad in Spring 2022 with a BFA in Ceramics at CSU Sacramento where they explored technique, process, and finding a passion for B&W Illustration which leads their practice in using clay as a canvas to this day. They have exhibited their work several times through LH Horton Jr. Gallery on San Joaquin Delta College campus, Robert Else and J.W. & Joyce Witt Galleries on CSU Sacramento campus, galleries throughout the San Joaquin and Sacramento County, and the Mendocino Art Center. They were a short-term Ceramic Resident Artist at Cobb Mountain Art & Ecology Project, and worked as an Art Admin at the Mendocino Art Center doing Development and Marketing. They currently teach ceramics at the Tracy Grand Theater and work as the Youth Art Coordinator with the Stockton Art League.
Artist Statement:
With an interest in design, I like to work with both organic and abstract imagery. In all of my work, texture is a very important aspect; visually-stimulating work keeps the viewer focused longer to create connections of subjective thought and conversation. Using the ceramic body as a canvas, I continue to experiment with different forms, genres of imagery, and practice sgraffito as a subtractive art form. Plenty of my work can be called an exploratory form, as I come out of a period of education where I am discovering the artist within myself. I pour myself into my work, and today I bring those refined forms with me into my studio space and release them into the universe.
Work Statement
Heartbreak / Regrowth
These works are focused on a period of reflection after the end of a long-term relationship in which the artist never felt nourished in return. The work for this exhibition is crossing into new territory as Zoe puts their feelings into visual art for the first time, and focuses on working both into strictly wall pieces. Each work branches out and offers a small acknowledgement into the artist's emotions of heartbreak, protection of oneself, and regrowth.
Proactive Heart (2024)
Ceramic Stoneware, Underglaze, Acrylic paint, High-fire Wire, Chain
4.5” W x 10.5“ H
$150
Created and inspired by the poem Guard Your Heart by Randy L. McClave, Proactive Heart depicts a securely guarded heart after the mistrust and heartache. Once a severely vulnerable heart, I surrounded it with spikes and barbed wire to create a strong fortress. Ironically while creating this work, I had a small accidental bloodshed while inserting the spikes located around the linework; it felt like a small metaphor for allowing oneself to stay in the relationship although it was damaging.
Guard Your Heart — by Randy L. McClave
Guard your heart as if it were gold
Guard it from thieves, so it won't be stolen or sold,
Protect it surely as you would protect your love
Keep it safe and protected and always there of.
Guard your heart from liars, thiefs and cheats
Let them not trick it and use it for their own deceits,
Don't let it be used or abused for a liar to take
If that happens, the heart will then mournfully break.
The heart is loving and forgiving and kind
It brings forth warmth, tenderness to the soul and mind,
And when the brain thinks of deceit and unjust
The heart though feels both compassion and trust.
One day the heart might be unplugged
When the wrong person is adored, trusted and hugged.
Guard your heart wisely for both better and worse
Guard your heart, as you would guard your wallet or purse.
A Thawing Frost (2024)
Ceramic Stoneware, Underglaze
6.625“ W x 9.125“
NFS
A ceramic work depicting the entire original poem A Thawing Frost created by Zoe Nelson. Reflecting on seven years of life in which I felt alone and underappreciated, this poem refers several times to my feelings of malnourishment. I later refer to myself as having the first swim in my thawing spring, as a way to acknowledge that I need to nourish myself first and regrow from my experience. For this piece, I fabricated a college-ruled sheet of paper using a slab, several alphabet stamps, and underglaze.
Exhibition Season:
Alumni Artists Files