BIO
Andrea Marquis makes ceramic objects that originate from the shadows of plants that echo the imprints of the human hand. Marquis was born in Salem, Massachusetts and presently lives outside Philadelphia, establishing a studio in Montgomery County in 2020. She has been an Artist in Residence at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia from 2015 to 2020, at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana from 2005 to 2007and at Peters Valley School of Craft in New Jersey from 2000 to 2001. She has studied at Syracuse University, The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and received her Masters of Fine Art in 2009 from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
She has taught ceramics, 3d design and drawing at a number of colleges and universities including: The College of New Jersey, The Community College of Philadelphia, Maryland Institute College of Art, Rutgers University Camden, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, Marywood University, The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Sussex County Community College. Marquis has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and her work can be found in private collections internationally and public collections like the Park Towne Place art collection in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum at Alfred University in Alfred, New York. She is currently exhibiting work at the Fitler Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as part of the Artist in Residence 2.0 cohort.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My ceramic objects are the physical manifestations of shadows, reflections, traces, imprints, boundaries and holes; they are the material manifestation of minor entities. In the studio, I have been interested in challenging norms, reframing constructs and thinking about the substance and value of decoration, the function of sculpture and the subjectivity of the distinction of a handmade utilitarian ceramic object.
At first glance, my work seems varied but the objects at their core are linked. Porcelain pots are imprinted after throwing, echoing my touch. The clay is pushed and stretched and often looks like both flesh and flora. Objects like Scrying Stones are a nod to growing up next door to Salem, Massachusetts and create a cloudy reflection but double as a mundane serving piece. My beloved fig tree was the basis for Syrup of Figs and it’s surface drips with a glaze that straddles the boundaries of a matte and shiny glaze. 3-Footed Bowl (after Marie Antoinette), 3-Armed Chandelier and Candlesticks are created from the shadows of a potato vine and are a nod to my French Arcadian roots and the blending and appropriation of Chinese pottery into Chinoiserie for garniture.
These objects are personal revelations as they connect fragments of feelings and notions centered around, intuition, lost family histories, the female body and the unknowable (knowledge, culture and place). They are the embodiment of a grey area where function, utility and ornament blend together. They are at times provocative and may challenge our labels and preconceived assumptions. It is my hope that through speculation and reframing, hierarchies within craft and the world at large are questioned.
