Alexis Kaminsky

I create wall sculptures constructed from altered slip-cast and slab-built ceramic elements. The elements take many shapes: circles, squares, triangles, irregular pebbles, rectangles, and girdled circles like cells in mitosis. They can be as small as a one-inch cube or as large as a 12-inch diameter circle. Compositions emerge organically. After bisque firing several kiln-loads, I lay out my elements on the ground atop a large sheet of craft paper, arranging and re-arranging until I’m satisfied. During the pandemic, I nudged neatly arranged stacks with my foot, knocking them into precarious relations. Many sculptures from that time held the uncertainty with which we all lived, elements teetering, almost toppling away from one another. I push my practice in terms of size and composition. Increasingly, I am drawn to the space created when dissimilar elements rub up against each other. By painting the backing boards with bright colors, I animate the negative space and intimate the energy that binds matter (or in my case, elements), the basis of all things. I remind myself that in this space in between, anything is possible.

Alexis was born in Alamogordo and raised in Albuquerque. She left New Mexico in her late teens for college and later graduate school. At 28, Alexis had a stroke brought on by a congenital defect. Three weeks, two hospitals, and two brain surgeries later, she said, "My head hurt." To help herself heal, she enrolled in a figurative sculpture class and was introduced to clay. Alexis's ceramic sculptures have been juried into Clay on the Wall IV (Brooklyn, NY, 2016) and Ink and Clay 44 (Pomona, CA, 2019). Several pieces are part of permanent collections in the City of Albuquerque through the Urban Enhancement Program and Luna College (Las Vegas, NM) through 1% for the Arts.

2-D, 3-D, Ceramics, Sculpture