Untitled,

1990

Odundo trained in ceramics in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, India, and England. She uses an ancient technique to construct her vessels, spending months hand-coiling, then sealing and burnishing the unglazed surface with a fine clay slip. Fluctuations in heat during the firing process determine the object’s final surface and color. The artist reduces the amount of oxygen in the kiln by adding organic materials that absorb oxygen as they burn, causing a chemical transformation that changes the terracotta's hue. Each resulting surface is unique: here, a rainbow sheen accentuates the blackened pot’s form. The vessel evokes the human body with a long, flared neck, which echoes the dramatic curves of Nupe pottery from Nigeria, and the columnar elegance of the elongated head that is captured on Mangbetu vessels from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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I have always been interested in the fragility of ceramic vessels. Each vessel is the result of a dance between me, the artist, and the terracotta clay: a physical process both in body and in practice that involves a certain poise to create a balanced piece of work that exists between the physical and the spiritual; between strength and fragility; between permanence and ephemerality. Multi-fired in a carbonizing atmosphere in a gas kiln to achieve the variant gradations of black on the surface, the vessel features surface textures from the firing that allude to the breath, or the spirit contained within the vessel—what is perceived as an object at first glance transforms to become a sentient companion to the viewer. This, to me, is very similar to imagining an architectural form that can both hide and reveal secrets inside and outside to whomever takes the time to observe and admire.

Magdalene Odundo, artist, Farnham, United Kingdom