Sarah Jane Colleran 

My project involves the expanded use of ceramic materials and processes. I create clay figures that reference female fertility idols, traditional connections with the land/earth, and ideas of the sacred feminine. The figures sometimes incorporate surface decoration, created using underglaze and image transfers, that references parts of flowers. I am interested in the possibility that my figures might each have a background story. These narratives might relate to the story of being a woman and experiencing life through a woman’s body. My work is also a means of dealing with issues of grief, loss and mortality. Some of the figures have a kind of dreamlike/ nightmarish quality. They are both a part of nature, and at war with it. Some incorporate elements of fungus, suggesting an organic connection to the earth and the possibility that they might returning to nature, decaying into the ground.