Kasper and Clay

STATEMENT

I have an insatiable, visceral need to create stemming from a desire to disrupt order. Clay is a specific medium for me, offering a gentle permanence which lends as a role model. Clay is malleable yet sturdy, brittle yet strong, utilitarian yet decorative, each juxtaposition as imperative to its practicality as the next. These qualities recursively raise questions. How is utility discovered? How are complex valences of value registered through materiality? What can an art object—a human objectivation—teach us about ourselves?

My focus emphasizes intersectionality to disrupt archetypes in terms of identity politics, including domesticity, women’s-work, gender, sexuality, and mental health. My work analyzes and recontextualizes subject formation by exploring complicated, emotionally laden, and sometimes contradictory landscapes of the self. These disruptions take shape through ceramics, sculptures and paintings which transform into abstract objects, anthropomorphic figures, and installations.



In recent work, I have found myself subjecting pre-manufactured, porcelain sinks to the ceramic process. This process includes re-glazing and refiring these objects to manipulate them into sculptures while preserving their functionality. This blend of function and sculpture embraces everyday utility and practicality while remaining a strong representation of my sculptural practice, but also grazing the notion of design.

BIO

Brooke Herzing, founder of Kasper and Clay, is a ceramic artist and sculptor. She earned her BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently pursuing her MFA at Cranbrook Academy of Art. Her work focuses on the disruption of order while investigating themes of identity politics such as domesticity, gender, sexuality, and mental health. Her concepts are presented through paintings, ceramics, and sculptures that transform into abstract objects, anthropomorphic figures, and installations.

EXHIBITIONS/SHOWS/COMMISSIONS

EXHIBITIONS

2022 Ground Floor, Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills MI
2022 Cranbrook Chair Show, First National Building, Detroit MI
2021 Not a Cup Sale, Forum Gallery, Bloomfield Hills MI
2020 Re:Imagine, NSC Gallery, Seattle WA
2020 Always Look on the Bright Side of Mental Illness, Make.Shift Art Space, Bellingham WA
2018 PHL NACCC Art Show, Tattooed Mom’s, Philadelphia PA
2015 SAIC BFA Show, Sullivan Gallery, Chicago IL
2014 Simmered: Not Boiled, 1-800_Share, Chicago IL

EDUCATION

2021-2023 Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills MI, MFA
2011-2015 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago IL, BFA

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2022-Present Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Ceramics Technician, Birmingham MI
2022-Present Cranbrook Academy of Art, Cersmics Department Assistant, Bloomfield Hills MI
2021-Present Cranbrook Art Museum, Assistant Preparator, Bloomfield Hills MI
2018-2021 North Seattle College, Ceramics and Sculpture Technician, Seattle WA
2017-2021 Seattle Messenger Cooperative, Owner & Dispatcher, Seattle WA
2017-2021 Steergear Custom Leather, Freelance Illustrator & Leatherworker, Seattle WA
2016-2017 Blackhound Clay Studio, Artist, Philadelphia PA
2012-2015 School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ceramics Studio Assistant, Chicago IL