Ianna Nova Frisby

Website:

iannanovafrisby.com 
https://www.instagram.com/iannanova/

Biography: 

Artist Statement: 

As one who identifies as a ceramic artist, it’s been my life’s goal to intimately understand it as a medium. Clay has taught me the importance of remaining fluid in my journey and has recently led me to discover ways to reinterpret its place and value in historical, geological, as well as cultural contexts.

Family Hairloom: 

Before family photos and scrapbooks were common, (mostly) women commemorated their family by creating intricate wreaths woven from locks of hair from their family members. The results were intricate and painstaking. Though beautiful and delicate, hair wreaths are also undeniably macabre. I decided to make my own ceramic interpretation of a Victorian hair wreath.

First, I needed hair. Not necessarily from my blood relatives, but from my family—the people in my life I want to memorialize. So I asked around for donations. Some were lock-generous. Some flatly declined. I get it. Hair is beautiful and attractive when it’s on the owner’s head, but it often arouses feelings of disdain or even disgust once detached.

To begin my project, I impressed strands of my family’s hair onto a floral press mold. Later, I singed their hair on the surface while the ceramic was still hot. I used hair strands to dangle petals from the fingers cast from a mold of my own hands. Scissors are used in the creation of the work, but can also sever necessary ties. Lean in close and have a look at all the details. If you were to make a version of your own, how would you do it? Whose hair would you include?

Nomad:

My most recent body of work is inspired by the interaction between geological, cultural and spiritual underworlds, and my experiences in such places. In Belize, once I lingered silently in a canoe floating through ancient limestone caves engulfed in darkness and deposited with immense formations and delicate remains of Mayan ancestors who saw the caves as sacred gateways. In Thailand, I remarked upon the painstakingly appointed Spirit Houses found everywhere, including the mouths of remote caves dedicated to local deities. Even in our local foothills, early settlers built a church—complete with a pipe organ—to worship under the great domed vault of California Cavern.

I see these places as filled with wonder and mystery. And there’s no better medium than clay to represent them, with its earthy character and long archeological significance. Clay invites excavation and exploration. I myself am constantly exploring new materials and techniques, trying to understand how exposure and heat will transform one thing into another. Each sculpture undergoes its own metamorphosis. Created during Covid, Nomad is rigged with wheels and a sail ready to travel and explore. This show is its maiden voyage. Enjoy the journey.