Zach Balousek
concrete, fiberglass resin, wood, steel, PVC, mixed media 32” x 26” x 84”
concrete, fiberglass resin, wood, steel, PVC, mixed media 32” x 26” x 84”
stoneware (multiple firings), rebar, concrete, nylon strings
concrete, fiberglass resin, wood, steel, PVC, mixed media 32” x 26” x 84”
Animate Earth
Music suffuses my work as a ceramicist. As an artist I continually look for parallels between these crafts, and new ways to blend ideas. Working within a tradition of vessel making, I create pots that contain the materials of life: food, water, dirt and ashes. However, as a musician I am interested in capturing that present energy into form. How can I contain something as ephemeral as sound in something as eternal as ceramic? How can I make the ethereal tangible? I am inspired by musical artifacts such as the Paleolithic bone flutes found in the caves of France, and the whistling water vessels of Pre-Columbian Peru. These objects not only give us insight into their maker but also give voice to the ancient peoples that created them. By forming instruments out of clay, wood, gut, and skin, I gain a very physical and visceral connection to the past while sculpting a voice of my own as unique and fleeting as the present.
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