Christian T. Roberts
My work as a ceramic artist is inspired by movement and balance, which I attribute to my background as a dancer and theater actor. Through movement and performance, I found a way to express myself and my emotions. Growing up in the performing arts, I learned that the role of the performer is to entertain and engage the audience in a way that makes them feel like part of the show. Now, I am drawn to the unpredictable nature of clay, its longevity, and the choreographed repetition involved in the process.
My recent body of work explores how clay can exist outside of how it’s imagined. I aim to disrupt expectations of clay by investigating the relationship between the permanence of ceramics and the impermanence of performance. I believe that the choreography of objects augments the amount of agency that the clay already possesses through its nature.