Peripatetic practice

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Mother and Daughter 2002. Pastel on paper. 10" X 14"

I refer to my practice as peripatetic because I have never been able to settle on one medium, inspiration often comes when I am walking in our beautiful BC nature, and I am often conceptually inspired by the ancients.  When I was in art school I changed my major repeatedly from ceramics to painting and finally illustration where I fell in love with creative writing. For years I tried to master one craft. However, in my later years, I have come to accept that this is my practice. I am a wanderer lead by inspiration yet fettered to my duty as an artist.

Wiccan Garden, 4' X 4' quilt. Reclaimed fabric.

Wiccan Garden was born out of my World Religions studies. It is a small quilt made for my mother's lap, after her hip surgery. Entirely made from reclaimed fabric from the clothes she had bought for my children. Now outgrown. Divided into three sections representing water, earth and air. I share this piece to express that we are all artists and we are all beginners.

I brought my quilting skills to the ceramics studio with this series in 2013.

Quilted Mug, 3" X 5" Ceramic, Cone 6

I experimented with text on ceramics with this 12 piece place setting of a 12 stanza poem on the subject of a changing family represented at the dinner table.

Text Plates 6" X 6" Sgraffito Cone 6.

If there seems to be one common thread of my work over the decades, it is that I like to work in the realm of domestic politics. 

Beach Bowl 7.5" X 2" Ceramic Cone 6.

As a coast artist, I am forever inspired by the juxtaposition of where the land meets the sea. 

This series was made after a family vacation to the Oregon coast, impressed by the extensive sand dunes.

Driftwood Pot 7" X 7" Ceramic Cone 6.

This series of work was inspired by a trip to the west coast of Vancouver Island summer 2018. 

Kelp Pond, 2" X 4" Ceramic, Cone 6.

Much of my studio work has been inspired by my travels through Europe and Asia, looking at art and studying World Religions abroad.

Alley Painting. Watercolour 8" X 10" 

In 2016 I went through my own version of the "blue period" and I attempted to make a murder of 100 crows. 89 ceramic crows were exhibited at the East Side Culture Crawl and sold in various markets. To me, studying, drawing and sculpting crows represented my own dissolution with the world. I felt the murder circling overhead as my family witnessed our way of life eroding with the bad news for the environment and the economy all around me. 

Attempted Murder, 2" X 6" Ceramic, Cone 6.

Not in chronological order.

Images may not be used without permission from the artist at babcock.smith@gmail.com