Deneece Harrell is a contemporary ceramic sculpture artist whose work explores and questions ideas of identity, value and purpose through porcelain, gold leaf, glaze and Kintsugi inspired vocabulary in gold composite hammered Brass wire. Her sculptures invite the viewer to reflect on their experiences of loss, pain, disappointment interwoven with inexpressible joy and fulfillment.
Conversations of beauty and resilience in sculptural porcelain that explore ideas of identity, worth and purpose. Vessels are created from torn, marred, stretched, irregular organic forms layered in connections which reflect the complexity of our experience, sometimes held firmly, sometimes barely touching- other times gaps and holes. Further, expressions of brokenness, reminders of restoration, Pain and Joy held in juxtaposition in fragmented, disjointed pieces of clay, the unexpected circumstances of life, shaping us/changing us. Each part of the process and the introduction of materials further the dialogue: hammering the brass wire on a stone leaves the subtle texture on the surface- there was work in the process of healing, the piercing of clay receive the staple- documents mending in places which are now a part of who we are, now exposed. We respond in questioning, searching for who we are, who we are becoming, and wrestling with purpose. We then move through time, the vessel alters, impacted by circumstances and choices- some we make, some made for us- the process of the kiln. The complex personal and interpersonal connections speaking in clay surface, capture responses, document consequences, layer experiences (in seemingly isolated ways), which then join together creating the story of our lives. But we are not left on our own. Learning we are seen, known, and loved, leads to the learning of loving ourselves and others through the discovery of a shared language of brokenness, restoration, compassion, and hope. We become a vessel of beauty, hope and light as we are shaped and filled with the supernatural beauty of God who loves us and does not leave us where we are.
She lives and works in her studio in Highlands, NC.
