Cicelia Ross-Gotta
Artist Statement
To Look: At everything which overflows the outline, the contour, the category, the name of what it is.
—John Berger
Softly hovering on the edge of visibility, that which is the most profound is so often heartbreakingly subtle. The themes of vulnerability, sensitivity, and tenderness play out in my sculptures and installations through fibers-based mediums, performance, and poetry. Informed by writers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Alphonso Lingis, and Annie Dillard as well as my personal experiences, my work is to risk vulnerability — foundational for sincere connection — to the audience. With quieter works, fine threads, and subtle textures, I invite the viewer to stay sensitive. Not to simply look harder, but to look well — to try to see just this one thing well.
Cicelia Ross-Gotta
Master of Fine Arts
3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculpture
[blockquote author=”Assistant Professor of 3D4M: ceramics + glass + sculpture, Michael Swaine” pull=”normal”]“Cicelia Ross-Gotta has taken humble, everyday items and elevated them to feel a poetic weight or in some cases a poetic weightlessness. Burned into my memory is an interactive performance that Cicelia orchestrated. She climbed onto a 12-foot ladder and told us we needed to keep the small light seeds of a milkweed pod in the air. She then teased out the seeds; slowly they floated toward the audience below. We all blew upward, the small fluffy seeds circulated above us. It felt like time stood still.”[/blockquote]
Committee:
Michael Swaine (chair), Doug Jeck, Phillip Thurtle, Adair Rounthwaite
