ABOUT THE ARTIST
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Philip Soucy officially began his artistic career in 2003 at The Cleveland Institute of Art. Growing up across Europe laid the foundation for his creative lens. After five years of study toward his Bachelor of Fine Arts, he traveled the American landscape for seven years, eventually completing his degree remotely from San Diego, California. In 2019, he completed his Masters at Cranbrook Academy of Art before relocating to Korea to work as an Artist in Residence at the ClayArch Museum in Gimhae. He now lives and practices in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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ARTIST STATEMENT
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For the past couple years, I have been exploring pace and time through layering, specifically by way of hand rolling clay coils. There is a symbiosis which occurs between artist and clay once building commences; there is an understanding; there is a tremendous amount of touch involved, imprinting the bond between material and maker.Once the layering of coils begins, the dance begins—I am in control but allow the clay to errantly lay on the previous coil as naturally as possible. I get lost in the rhythmic process of rolling, layering, and repeating. I think of the ancient druids, who drew spirals on cave walls to transport themselves to otherworlds—my coils transport me in their making.The understanding and kinship between me and the clay body is paramount to my process of accumulating layers of coils—interacting with and reacting to the material qualities of the clay itself. I leave my coils unsmoothed, flaunting the form’s seemingly organic method of construction, yet still, maintaining its coil-built integrity, and all the while brandishing its materiality. The forms which emerge from the stacked coils speak of landscape and hillsides, evoking the layers of sediment built up throughout the eons of creation.We hope to see you there for an evening of art, reflection, and community.
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