Marge Levy
KoKo’s Basket
Terra cotta with terra sigillata, glazes, and transfers,
2018
$1600
A portion of the sale price will go to the ACLU
Statement:
I have been working with clay for many years, creating pots and small sculptures that narrate evolving circumstances that are not often visible to others. In this internationally inspired basket, stylized to reference textiles as well as gathering and harvest, I have assembled life forms in another world, of tropical ocean reefs, that were only visible to after multiple eye surgeries - procedures no one knew about. Who wants to think of a visual artist seeing poorly? Amid reef starfish, clams, whale tails, and nudibranchs are pills and an IV bag for delivering medications. Through their celebratory colorful surfaces, they address appreciation for modern medications that virtually eliminate symptoms of autoimmune illnesses that are invisible but profoundly present, often when least expected. Who wants to hear others complain about personal issues? Invisibility was an option which I chose, hoping disease could itself become invisible, but barring that, less pervasive, so I could keep on keeping on with a life that is otherwise joyful, loving, full of learning, and fascinating.
Bio:
Marge Levy was the first woman president of NCECA in 1982 and this year, 35 years later, will become past president and again, serve on the board. She was a professor of ceramics and fine arts at the University of Michigan and Purdue University, as well as executive director at Pilchuck Glass School. Presently she works in clay at Pottery Northwest and is a docent at the Seattle Art Museum.
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insta: @margelevy