charlie HAYES

My work is an investigation of intersections between materials and aesthetics through process and practice. I aim to blend the production-like processes involved in the two mediums I work in - clay and fiber; with a more loose and imaginative exercise that I practice during the installation of the individual pieces. I engage this more imaginative process by using many pieces of pottery to pixilate larger patterns, and through doing this, depict what I think of as the essence of the work I do, and represent some of the things I find most valuable that are not always conveyed by a singular finished object. Discipline, repetition, and maintaining a continuous work ethic in my studio practice are of utmost importance to me. The culmination of hours spent on the wheel and loom are made evident through the installation. I find that this way of showing my work represents the aspects of making that I love the most. The times that I enjoy my own work the most is when pots are slowing filling the shelves and fading in color as they dry, or watching threads quietly accumulate like snow while weaving. There never seems to be one finished piece that is worthy of representing all the work that is done, so I prefer to represent the essence of the making process at once through installation.

I am interested in observing both the material and making process, as well as my thought process during the prolonged time of making. It is fascinating to me to conceive of an idea, then see how it changes throughout the making period, and keep track of the slow changing of my ideas, and the actual work. I think that this feeling of noticing such slow change during such a repetitious cycle is very beautiful, and I try to create an end product that reflects that feeling, as well as the process, and work ethic it involves.

-2016