title: Sedentary Scene
artists: Isabella Maroon and Spencer Cheek
materials: ceramic
dimensions: variable (installation in 24"x16"x8" shelf space)
location: Birmingham, MI
artwork submitted: May 17, 2020
We curated this scene with objects from our practice with the theme of sitting in mind. As movement dwindles during this crisis, we wanted to take the opportunity to contextualize how we feel about the decrease in physical activity. Objects in the display are either made for sitting (the two chairs), sitting on something (the plate on its legs and the cup resting on the small dish), and/or domestic items (the cup on the lower shelf).
"The installation represents our feelings about confinement. How are we affected by this proliferation of inactivity?"
Isabella Maroon is a ceramic artist currently based in Michigan. She received her BFA from SAIC in 2018 and her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in 2020. She has work several private collections, and has shown work in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, among other places. Follow her on Instagram: @isabella_maroon
Spencer Cheek is a ceramic artist who received his BFA from SAIC in 2016. Since then he has taught ceramics and produced work in various studios. Follow him on Instagram: @specialchestnut
More on Isabella Maroon's practice
In the studio, I recall failures and challenges from the past to search for clarity in present struggles. My process jumps around from building abstract forms, to creating representational miniatures. Choice and chance are incorporated into my large works by sending pieces through multiple firings and building on top of pre-existing foundations that are embedded with fragments of my previous work. While my large re-fired works are more concerned with process, my smaller representational works derive meaning through symbolism, and use text to convey messages about identity and value systems. Both large and small forms speak a language of nonconformity and movement.
More on Spencer Cheek's practice
Lately, my work has been small-scale ceramics that reference objects like figurines, trophies, monuments, and other narrative-laden items. My practice uses aspects of history, myth, and the idea of the collective consciousness to explore the ways in which these objects create a non-physical space for us to inhabit. Just as a book or film creates realms we can exist in, so too can the objects we display around us activate similar levels of thought. When making, I consider our roots as manipulators of material, and I investigate the omnipresent need to actualize our ideas about the world, upon the world.
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