Katie Creyts
Artist Statement
My objects and installations give form to the imaginative process that splices fiction and reality together. The aspects that inspire me are the praxis of the fairytale genre, specific literal elements in the tales, and their metaphoric evocations. That is, the face value of what the text reads aligned with the possibilities of what it may conjure. My purpose is not to illustrate a storyline and moral through sculpture, but to locate the process of moving between fiction and reality through objects. Embedded in these curious chronicles is a history of colorful explanations of the human condition that is disguised in rich symbolism. Portrayals of the mundane object that becomes enchanted, the shape-shifted beast and the crooked-fingered granny, are able to illustrate implausible (too ridiculous) and ineffable (too embarrassing) desires. These portrayals of objects or characters are a symbol of the shift to the construct of fantasy. I extract these objects or vignettes from the context of the story and actualize them in three dimensions. The result is a recognizable object displaced from its usual context. My work is strangely resonant, yet idiosyncratic objects that challenge the difference between “reality” and “fantasy” by entangling both concepts.
The materiality of sculpting and mixing media plays a role in a piece’s development. I have an affinity for the hot glass process and the qualities innate to glass. Hot glass can be runny or squishy and reacts to gravity and centrifugal force. As quickly as it yields itself to malleability, it also arrests itself into rigid form. The transformations that occur are suited to the content of my work. That is, the glass goes from liquid to solid form as my object goes from fictive to reality. Some other properties I include the cartoon-like nature of inflated, exaggerated forms that result from glass being blown from the inside outward and the rounding and softening of edges that result from the heat. These soft, marshmallowy forms heighten the fictive play in that these recognizable objects are slightly distorted as though they originated in another world and have been brought into ours. Also present are the use of optics, color, the reflection on a smooth surface, the veil, and plays between opacity and transparency. These formal aspects of glass create illusions that distort our reality. Glass is able to show fiction as well as the convergence of a place of fiction and reality. In its service, glass has a vast history. It is a ubiquitous utilitarian material but also a precious collectible and the purveyor of divine light. Its connotations are mixed in a way that mimics the symbolism in a story, where we understand it, mostly, but then it has the ability to say something more. So, the manipulations support my metaphoric shifts. The vignette is set with suggestive objects and guiding title. The vivid colors, life-likeness, and narrative inklings engage the viewer in a dialogue about reality. The viewer, with an able mind, activates what is real through metaphor. My fabricated objects, like the tales, are only as genuine as the viewer’s association permit.
Artist Statement
My objects and installations give form to the imaginative process that splices fiction and reality together. The aspects that inspire me are the praxis of the fairytale genre, specific literal elements in the tales, and their metaphoric evocations. That is, the face value of what the text reads aligned with the possibilities of what it may conjure. My purpose is not to illustrate a storyline and moral through sculpture, but to locate the process of moving between fiction and reality through objects. Embedded in these curious chronicles is a history of colorful explanations of the human condition that is disguised in rich symbolism. Portrayals of the mundane object that becomes enchanted, the shape-shifted beast and the crooked-fingered granny, are able to illustrate implausible (too ridiculous) and ineffable (too embarrassing) desires. These portrayals of objects or characters are a symbol of the shift to the construct of fantasy. I extract these objects or vignettes from the context of the story and actualize them in three dimensions. The result is a recognizable object displaced from its usual context. My work is strangely resonant, yet idiosyncratic objects that challenge the difference between “reality” and “fantasy” by entangling both concepts.
The materiality of sculpting and mixing media plays a role in a piece’s development. I have an affinity for the hot glass process and the qualities innate to glass. Hot glass can be runny or squishy and reacts to gravity and centrifugal force. As quickly as it yields itself to malleability, it also arrests itself into rigid form. The transformations that occur are suited to the content of my work. That is, the glass goes from liquid to solid form as my object goes from fictive to reality. Some other properties I include the cartoon-like nature of inflated, exaggerated forms that result from glass being blown from the inside outward and the rounding and softening of edges that result from the heat. These soft, marshmallowy forms heighten the fictive play in that these recognizable objects are slightly distorted as though they originated in another world and have been brought into ours. Also present are the use of optics, color, the reflection on a smooth surface, the veil, and plays between opacity and transparency. These formal aspects of glass create illusions that distort our reality. Glass is able to show fiction as well as the convergence of a place of fiction and reality. In its service, glass has a vast history. It is a ubiquitous utilitarian material but also a precious collectible and the purveyor of divine light. Its connotations are mixed in a way that mimics the symbolism in a story, where we understand it, mostly, but then it has the ability to say something more. So, the manipulations support my metaphoric shifts. The vignette is set with suggestive objects and guiding title. The vivid colors, life-likeness, and narrative inklings engage the viewer in a dialogue about reality. The viewer, with an able mind, activates what is real through metaphor. My fabricated objects, like the tales, are only as genuine as the viewer’s association permit.
