NCECA: CONFLUENT TRADITIONS
Ceramics and tattooing have been connected throughout history; Ceramic figurines with faces marked or engraved to demarcate what is thought to be the earliest evidence of tattoos. This long standing correlation between ceramics and tattoos, found on remnants still intact today, provide a link to our distant past and a path forward for our innovative future. Now, in our current age, we use these historical links to fashion a new form of engagement with these mediums, leading to the collaborative exhibition Confluent Traditions.
Both practices, steeped in tradition, have ebbed and flowed throughout their histories, enduring while persistently adapting into new streams of thought. At times they converge together to become coinciding modes of making. Highlighting these relationships, Confluent Traditions features the collaborative work of ceramicists and tattooists, representing the key proponents of growth and erosion, endurance, and persistence. The very essence of the collaboration across mediums speaks to the progression that can and will be seen in each craft as artists forge together into the future.
Over the last hundred years ceramics has forged ahead to leave the normative definitions as utilitarian, decorative, and craft creations. Now, it finds itself more commonly intersecting with confining traditions of technology, fine art, and architecture in non conventional ways while maintaining a respectful nod to the traditions of the past. Elevating the material and process to new heights, ceramics continues to develop into a modes of making steeped beyond the realm of fine art and into essential fields of humanity; A well designed, mass produced mug for the home; Modern architecture re-discovering the beauty of brick; Kohler developing the perfect bathroom fixtures for modern living. Many industries rely on ceramics, and the breadth of these possibilities continue to evolve.
More recently, though similarly, tattooists have encountered growth over the past twenty years as the fine art world permeates the standards and quality of the medium. With access to more information and supplies, tattooers now create with unprecedented innovation and craftsmanship. Fundamental styles such as Japanese Traditional, American Traditional, Tribal and other early forms of tattooing have evolved and splintered into new combinations and approaches; New school designs blooming to form bold cartoon inspired tattoos; Neo-traditional tattoos developing out of advancing illustration skills and modern motifs; Realism utilizing modern visual media to create heightened drama and contrast. Accompanying this intersection with the art world, tattoos are now embraced as a way to collect personalized art with new designs, colors, and quality, ultimately elevating the perception of the practice to an artform in itself.
Confluent Traditions strategically pairs ceramicists and tattoo artists to facilitate the creation of work from both worlds. Artists will create a unified idea, manifesting in a singular form, design, artwork. Developed from a coordinated effort, artists will merge aesthetics. The result; a confluence of two traditional practices forging new paths in new dynamic environments. Two traditions changing and altering to meet the needs of contemporary times.