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Brooke Armstrong is a ceramic artist interested in creating sculptural forms from processes tied to traditional craft. Brooke grew up in a rural mountain town in the Adirondack Park in New York State. She received a BA in Communication with a minor in Art from SUNY Potsdam. Brooke attended the University of Colorado as a Post-Baccalaureate specializing in ceramics. Brooke earned her MFA from The University of Montana as well as worked as a 3D technician and adjunct instructor. She has attended residencies at The Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino, CA and The Red Lodge Clay Studio in Red Lodge, MT. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Instruction at The University of Texas in San Antonio.
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Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
“We touch things to assure our reality. We touch things we love. We touch things we form. Our tactile experiences are elemental.” -Annie Albers
Pleasure and beauty come from appreciating what surrounds you. Pleasure and beauty are internal bodily experiences that can create a sense of reciprocity as one enters into a relationship with the external world around them. The ambivalent sculptures I create suggest finding beauty outside of clearly recognizable form. The sculptures hold an affinity to grasp life in others, objects, and ultimately life outside of oneself.
Beads swoop and hang, our bodies empathetically relate to this sense of gravity. Sharp beads reference hair, or grass, something soft made of many sharp parts. The sphere shaped beads are a means to adorn, celebrate and commemorate. Beads blend aspects of high and low craft. The repetition of my process lends itself to traditional craft practices and ties itself to labor. Historically, beads represent commitments, beliefs and principles, and are present in every culture.
Strands of individual parts are woven together to create a unified whole. My work speaks of systems and connections. I am interested in a notion of community that expands past being human, and aligns with a deeper notion of connectivity in the world as a whole.