Canne Holladay- Seattle, WA
/
Canne's Writing About Her Work:
Microscopic images, with cells clustered to form tissues, draw a parallel between the details and patterns in life, and the routine of living. The brightly stained slides of cell clusters come from the body, but these beautiful slices of life do not divulge their source. Over time a viewer can become familiar with the patterns and structures, much like life, where in the moment events often feel disconnected and chaotic, but seem much clearer upon reflection.
I experience a feeling of calm in the midst of a repeating organic pattern. There is excitement with the discovery of every detail, as well as an all encompassing sense of incomprehension. It’s like the feeling of flying below the clouds where everything disappears into the sum of its parts, but if you focus you can pick out the neighborhoods, and warehouses, and baseball stadiums. I am searching for that feeling in my work. A tension between something that can be swallowed whole, and but still needs to be chewed on. Like a “Now and Later” candy, which by the way was one of my favorites as a kid.
A cell can be defined as “any one of the very small parts that together form all living things.” When making work as pieces within a group the parts become like cells, building and expanding to become part of a whole. Color blocking, dots, lines, curves, and slip trailing are all elements I employ in design. Each design starts with histology as reference, and the more times I repeat a design the more it develops into its own being that travels from form to form. So that in this way each piece is unique, but the body of work is whole. Through abstraction, each piece should become something so far removed from the human that perhaps only the complex curves of the walls reference a body, and in this way each piece develops its own gracefully strange life.
I observe how a person is the sum of the many individuals with whom they surround themselves. I consider how the form and adornment of each piece relates to its function, and how the external action of using the object relates to the body’s internal reaction. For example, a cup, an intimate object excites senses of touch, smell, and taste as one ingests its contents. Upon entering the body an internal reaction takes place as fluid is filtered throughout the body. An intimate object can become a part of a routine, as it can be loved daily or brought out like an old friend. The layers of action and reaction within each piece are meant to be uncovered through use, as one might realize a friend over time. I am facilitating the consideration of how my objects uniquely relate to individuals through purpose and personality.
Bio
Canne Holladay was born and raised in Birmingham, AL. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from Auburn University, with a Bachelors of Fine Art degree concentrating in Ceramics. She recently transplanted to Seattle, Washington to be a 2016-2017 studio assistant for Deborah Schwarzkopf at Rat City Studios. Her artwork has been featured in many exhibitions in her home state of Alabama and across the country.
Holladay is reflected in her work through her fascination with small aspects of life: from discoveries made in the dirt as a child, to the observation of how a person is the sum of the many individuals with whom they surround themselves. In addition to working with clay she enjoys spending time with loved ones, knitting, sewing, and baking.