From River to Ocean:
Artists Respond to Environmental Impacts
Courtney Mattison
Website - https://courtneymattison.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/courtneycoral/
Bio:
and large-scale ceramic sculptural works that visualize climate change through the fragile beauty of marine life. Her background in ocean conservation science and policy informs her art practice. Mattison’s site-specific work has been commissioned for permanent installation in hospitality, institutional, workplace, retail and residential settings across the U.S., Europe and Asia, including the U.S. Embassy in Indonesia and The Seabird Resort in Oceanside, California. Her exhibition history includes solo shows at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and ICA San Diego/North, where she was Artist in Residence. Curated group exhibitions include “Iris Van Herpen. Sculpting the Senses” at Musée des Arts Décoratifs Paris, “Fragile Earth” at the Brandywine Museum of Art and “Beijing 2022” at the U.S. Ambassador’s Residence in China. In 2020, the United Nations Postal Administration published Mattison’s work on a stamp to commemorate Earth Day. Born in 1985, Mattison received an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts degree in marine ecology and ceramic sculpture from Skidmore College in 2008 and a Master of Arts degree in environmental studies from Brown University with thesis coursework at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011. Her work has been featured on the covers of American Craft, Nature, Beaux Arts and Brown Alumni magazines, and by Smithsonian Magazine, Good Morning America, Oprah Magazine and BBC World Service. She lives and works in San Francisco.
Artist Statement:
I create enormous and intricate ceramic sculptural works that visualize climate change through the fragile beauty of marine life. My large-scale, meticulously designed wall reliefs are often composed of hundreds or thousands of individually hand-crafted and glazed stoneware and porcelain pieces that celebrate the diversity and complexity of invertebrate animals inhabiting coral reefs, such as corals, anemones, sponges and tunicates. I sculpt hollow forms by pinching together coils of clay and use simple tools to texture each piece, often poking thousands of holes to mimic the repetitive growth of coral colonies.
My glazes reflect the vibrant tones and textures of a healthy reef, often juxtaposed against white glazes to emphasize the stark contrast of coral bleaching on reefs stricken by warming seas. The fragility and chemical makeup of my work parallels that of a living coral, as calcium carbonate is both a common glaze ingredient and the compound precipitated by corals from seawater to “sculpt” their stony skeletons. By bringing the seemingly-alien forms of tropical marine life above the surface and into view, my work aims to spark a sense of wonder in viewers that inspires them to protect the natural environment upon which we all depend.
Hope Spots, 2023
Coral Triangle 4
Glazed stoneware + porcelain
9” x 16” x 16”
$3,350
Surface Tension 9, 2020
Glazed stoneware + porcelain
33.5” x 25.5” x 6”
$3,700
The Surface Tension series is a surrealist exploration of the human-caused threats of climate change and the fossil fuel industry, with vibrant and complex coral reef assemblages that appear to bleach white, dissolve and drip down the wall.
Surface Tension 11, 2020
Glazed stoneware + porcelain
42” x 35.5” x 6”
$5,900
Blue Habits, Episode 4: Raja Ampat
Oceanic Society
February 3, 2020
With interview comments by artist and ocean advocate, Courtney Mattison
Exhibition Season:
From River to Ocean: Artists Respond to Environmental Impacts