andrew casto ceramics

current work

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:55:08 +0000

bio

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:46:06 +0000

Andrew Casto was born in Delaware, Ohio. He received his B.A. from Earlham College, and his M.F.A. from The University of Iowa. Currently he is the 2011-2012 MJD fellow at The Archie Bray Foundation for Ceramic Art in Helena, Montana. Prior to coming to Montana, he served as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Augustana College, Knox College, and The University of Iowa. Casto’s sculptural objects create metaphorical links between personal narratives and physical forces of erosion and entropy. He was recently awarded the FuLe Prize by the International Ceramic Magazine Editors Association in Fuping, China, and has been featured in several other national and international exhibitions. When not working in the studio, he is a lover of music and college basketball.

statement

admin — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 20:45:57 +0000

My current body of work follows an autobiographical inquiry into the formal relationships objects, bodies, and relics undergo when subjected to the downward pull of gravity. Gravity in this context serves as a metaphor for personal responsibility, and the stress we encounter in present society.

Beginning with this premise, I embrace the deconstruction of objects familiar to my history as a ceramic artist. Rudimentary compositions are created, and then broken down through various methods into elemental components. The remaining structures are subjected to an accumulation of porcelain casting slip, texturing work, underglaze, glaze, and luster applications through multiple firings. Objects are often combined with mixed media additions to compliment conceptual methodology.

The structural language present in the work mimics erosion, geological stress, and disintegration. Resolving this surface treatment in gold luster suggests that additions of emotional weight in our lives can serve as creative opportunities for refinement and purification, rather than functioning as tools of our undoing.