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Michelle Hernandez
I am a ceramic artist whose functional and conceptual work is a visual, 3D response to my deeply-felt human experience. My inspirations come to me in dreams, awake or sleeping, and stem from many roots: my Chicano culture, my Catholic up-bringing, my ancestral wounds and power, our interconnectedness, my PTSD and my journey of recognizing and settling into my Self, namely (and for now). The relationship I have built with clay over the last 16 years has allowed me a safe space to fail, succeed, explore, tune into my body and felt senses and get to meet new versions of myself again and again. I teach various formats of ceramic classes with the intention of creating an atmosphere that allows others to start to access that same space for themselves. My work is also geared towards allowing people space to respond to external thoughts and ideas so they may meet another part of themselves in these moments as well. I was born and raised in San Antonio and get muddy in my studio in Southtown.
Resume (PDF)
Work Samples (PDF)
MORE ABOUT THIS ARTIST
Artist Style: Teaching Artist/Instructor: Group Instruction; Visual Art: Conceptual, Decorative/Ornamental, Functional, Social Commentary
Artist Medium: Clay
Artist Statement of Work
Tell us about your work (style, approach, philosophy, subject and/or theme):
For me, clay is such a relational material. Though inanimate, it has a life and capacities (both limited and limitless) similar to us. When creating a body of work, I like to allow time and space for these relational feelings to come up with the material. I have learned, and am continually learning, how to listen to the clay and understand when I can push it further and when it can't be pushed anymore and then find the happy middle ground that includes moments of both of those feelings. Because I feel clay is so relational it allows to me express the feelings I have with my relationship to myself, my PTSD, my pleasure, my pain and through exploring myself and my relationship to myself via clay I can create space to explore others and their relationship to themselves and me. Some major themes I will be exploring with upcoming bodies of work are trauma and moving with it (the cycle of feeling wounded, feeling protected, feeling sacred and feeling hopeful) and of nurturing and what we feed ourselves (the cycle of maternal/paternal influences, societal influences, self-influences).
Culturally Specific Art Category
Select Culturally Specific Art Category:: Hispanic or Latino/a/x
