Conceptual porcelain sculptor Kate MacDowell sculpts each piece of her subjects out of porcelain, aiming to explore environmental juxtapositions of humanity and nature.
She choses porcelain for its luminous and qualities as well as its strength and ability to show fine texture. Porcelain highlights both the impermanence and fragility of natural forms.
Kate says in her work the ideal of union with the natural world conflicts with humans’ contemporary impact on the environment. These pieces are in part responses to environmental stressors. They borrow from myth, art history, figures of speech and other cultural touchstones. In each case the union between man and nature is shown to be one of friction and discomfort with the disturbing implication that humans are vulnerable to being victimized by their destructive practices.
