Writing Excerpt

Meredith Moyer’s pottery straddles an in between feeling of ancient artifact and late 20th century feminist text art. Something both earthly divine and contemporarily girlish. Think prehistoric vessel meets Carolee Schneeman’s Interior Scroll meets millennial floral motif. A dinner plate that reads “you make yourself sick with sadness and jealousy” or a vase with the large, looping, cursive inscription “bad daughter.” 

Her most recent series was made while attending the Arts University Plymouth in England. The textures and hues of a coastal British landscape are imbued throughout the work. Cool sea grey blues, chalk grey and raw earth. Even though this new environment brought a shift in palette, many of Moyers key aesthetic choices can still be found within the forms themself. Diaristic text, wobbly lines, uneven edges. At face value the work gives off playfulness and charm. But waiting underneath the soft and clunky shape is biting wit, powerful markers of female sexuality, bravery and confrontation with the trickier parts of herself.  

The decision to interlay braided and chain linked elements was present in the work before the move to Plymouth, but has taken on a new interior significance for the artist. To bind is to tie or fasten something tightly. To braid is to interlace strands of material into a decorative band. Both of these methods of hand building speak to the tension and release within Moyers’ pottery.  

Moyers’ work has always spoken to the female experience, what it means to carve your own path and to break down patriarchal barriers. Her vessels channel something distinctly her own, touching on a past lineage of clay as craft and as a present day object that is powerful, feminine and confident in its form. 

To see more of Meredith’s work you can follow her on instagram at @merf.pots or @incorrigiblescamp. To purchase works go to www.merfpots.com.