Raia Silverman grew up outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was exposed to art as a young child, and visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art often with her family which led to her love for art. She incorporates experience working in multiple mediums, including photography and painting into her ceramic practice. She is currently a BFA candidate at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She is a recipient of both the Brinkman Scholarship and the Louise W. Epstein Materials award. As she completes her education at Rochester Institute of Technology, she is developing a body of work that explores thrown vessels which serve as a canvas for narrative imagery and sculptural elements.
Statement
Through sculptural vessels my work explores my experience of nostalgic melancholy. I long for and romanticize a time that has passed, for being melancholic is the most beautiful way to be sad. Through this body of work, I indulge in the secret pleasures of unhappiness.
The vessel becomes a three-dimensional canvas to compose scenes of pause and reflection. While the work is rooted in functional pottery, hand-built clouds and atmospheric abstractions bring it into a sculptural space. Across the surface I use a limited lexicon of imagery reminiscent of my childhood experience. While encountering these symbols on a day-to-day basis I am reconnected to the past and reminded of the passage of time and the changing seasons of life.
The past is a stable place, and it is a place for me to rest when the future seems to grow more uncertain. I make from a desire to find refuge in the memories of my younger self. By making this work I am mourning the part of my life that I will never experience again, and sometimes, it just feels good to be a little sad.
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