Senior Capstone Project

2019

A cup is an object at the foundation of ceramics, a form which is recognized by everyone. I am drawn to this form and the intimacy of this object, because of the relationship between the object and the user. Cups are a part of the rituals of togetherness and unity, one of the objects used when coming together over a beer, tea, coffee, etc. A cup is one of the only objects that one welcomes to their lips. This intimacy aids my work by requiring the viewer to intuitively investigate the function of my cups when interacting with them. Yet, I am using the cup as a substrate to talk about the function of fences. This is an object that has the function of segregation. Pulling from the imagery of the American Dream found in propaganda posters from the ’50s to inspire my fence motif, I have placed it on and around the cup. This divider has become an element of our current landscape, creating separations in neighborhoods. Both cups and fences have embedded themselves within society in plain sight, used in everyday life, however completely ignored in their significance.