Mitchell Messina

My current work uses the tool as a springboard into abstracted sculptural forms. The actual pieces are reminiscent of the forms and functions of pre-industrial tools that have become unfamiliar or lost to us. I see these implements as allegorical symbols of the inner working of the human struggle to give shape and meaning to an irrational world. I attempt to recapture the tension, precarious balance, complexity and dissonant relationships that exists in our society. A society faced with an ever increasing dehumanization and mechanization away from objects made by hand.

Technical Information: Each sculpture is produced in sections using traditional coil, pinch, and slab construction techniques. Built into these sections are a series of collars, or sleeves, made from tubes of clay. These collars have corresponding holes on the surface of the adjoining sections. Once they are fired, this allows a metal rod to be inserted into both sleeves for supporting the next stacked section. At times, the rods are glued directly into the sleeve of a section, and other times a threaded rod and nut are used. Fragmenting the sculptures into units like these, allows for greater scale, tension, and balance, as well as a method of assembling and dismantling each sculpture for shipping and storage purposes. Before they are fired, my sculptures are never fully assembled. The stoneware clay body that is used is heavily grogged (up to 20 %) and is once fired to cone 6 in a electric kiln. At this time, the sections are ready to be assembled . The surfaces are treated with an extensive layering of acrylic paint and then wiped with a black stain to highlight the textures. To protect and enhance the painted pieces, a clear polyurethane spray is applied.