A tall, flowing form evokes a sense of plant life, and of calm in the flowing lines soft blues, and stripes of blues, orange, and yellow. Not an exact representation of a plant, Wavy Blue Bromeliad nonetheless calls to mind these ideas and the
sensations that come with them. An experience that is defined, yet open ended as we each witness the sculpture and attach our own ideas and meanings to them. The movement of the wavy foliage, the spikes of the flower, and the softness of colours come together in an encounter both familiar and unexpected.
This year, the Gallery was grateful to receive another grant to support the acquisition of a work for our Permanent Collection. With the support of the “Elizabeth L. Gordon Art Program, a program of the Gordon Foundation and administered by the Ontario Arts Foundation,” the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery was able to acquire Wavy Blue Bromeliad, the first work by Julie Moon in our collection.
A Toronto-based ceramic artist, Julie’s work ranges broadly from figurative and abstracted sculptures to functional pottery. In the works that she creates, Julie finds that the form and decoration are two distinct parts that come together in the completed piece. Abstracted forms grow and change intuitively, building slowly in a process that allows for unexpected changes and new directions that form a canvas for the later surface design. In decorating her forms, Julie works more rigidly, applying patterns of sculpted lines and motifs that add to the visual experience of the work.
In Wavy Blue Bromeliad the form and decoration work cohesively. Part of a larger series of works referencing botanical imagery, Julie states that these works “exist as a variety of distorted and stylized plant species, often finished in a wildly colourful and graphic patterning of glazes. I’ve come to think of these sculptures as a manifestation of how I perceive the natural world, which is often from a distance and through the lens of culture.” Not quite realistic, and yet not entirely fantastical, Wavy Blue Bromeliad presents us with a new and unique way to think about plant life and the interactions that we have with it both in the natural environment and through art.
Peter Flannery, MA
Curator & Collections Manager