Artist Statement
My work explores the complexities of the human condition, capturing the tension between vulnerability and resilience, isolation and connection. Through figurative forms, I seek to express the quiet emotions that shape our existence—grief, hope, longing, and transformation. Each piece serves as a reflection of the shared experiences that define us, translating personal narratives into tactile forms. By engaging with these themes, I aim to create sculptures that invite contemplation and empathy, offering a space where the raw and the poetic can coexist.
As a ceramic artist I am drawn to expression via the tactile nature of clay via hand-building techniques and the limitless possibilities of working with clay. My focus is to create pieces using clay with slips, underglazes, glazes and surface decoration to capture the vibrancy and energy of the maternal.
BIO
Melanie Shaw received her BA from Hunter College, New York, with a double major in Digital Media and Film and Studio Arts (ceramics concentration) and graduated summa cum laude with Phi Beta Kappa honors. Her artist residencies have included Guaitil Pottery, Tamarindo, Costa Rica, Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center, New York, Hunter College, New York, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Maine, and Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina. Her curating experience includes exhibitions “Personal Universal”, “Funk: American Dada” & “Critical Function”, Pittsburgh (NCECA), “50 Women-A Celebration of Women’s Contribution to Ceramics”, Kansas City (NCECA), “Texas State of Clay”, Bastrop, TX, and “Gems of the Hill Country”, Tea + Art, Houston, TX, “Jewels of Earth and Fire”, Pittsburgh (NCECA), and “Critical Function II”, Richmond (NCECA). Her speaking engagements have included “Past Masters” NCECA, Cincinnati, OH, “ScanCeram”, Denmark, and Bastrop Historical Society, Bastrop, TX.
She is a self-employed ceramic artist and became owner/operator of Art Off Center, LLC., a ceramics-teaching center in Taylor, TX as of 2017 after to moving to Texas in 2014. Ms. Shaw also teaches a ceramics decorating workshop called “Color Collage on Clay” at various locations in Texas, and has taught/demoed for GACA, Austin, Cynthia Brinson studios in Arlington and at CERA pottery studio in Ft. Worth. She is also a founding member of “Wilco Potter’s Club”, Williamson County, TX.