The show of Emily Rangel-Cascio AIR 2018 was entitled “PREDEFINED UNDERSTANDING”.
My work focuses on the humble ability of pottery to communicate with the body as well as its function as a catalyst for conversation. I pull from my childhood growing up in the Midwest and my family’s Italian heritage. I spent this residency and my time here in Rome observing functional forms that play major parts in everyday Italian life. Also, I took this opportunity to correct my possibly romantic notions of what it means to be Italian in the United States. Before this residency, I made pots based on my family’s understanding and practice of dinner. One big pot of pasta, another large bowl for bread and, somehow, an even larger bowl of salad. After spending time, perhaps too much time, eating here in Rome I have allowed for revision in my working vocabulary. I have replaced giant coffee mugs with espresso cups; specifically, caffé doppio cups. I like each vessel to have a unique and specific function or even an unexpected function. Underneath the large pasta bowl there is an ashtray functioning also as the foot of the bowl. Also, I have shrunken the size of both serving and individual bowls because the serving sizes here are much smaller than in the States. Finally, I put all of these forms together to form a sculpture. Each lip and foot of each vessel is designed to fit into each other so the entire composite is ultimately stable. I hope to foster the idea that each pot has a part to play within the whole, much like the family that is meant to use these vessels.” @cretarome #anartistinresidenceaday #artistresidencyrome #ceramicresidency #emilyrangelcascio @ C.R.E.T.A. Rome
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