Jacintha Clark
Wrinkled Blue
Using porcelain as her primary medium, Clark makes large-scale installations that play with environments and focus on memory and nostalgia for a moment or a place. Working in architectural conservation for the past three years has given her the opportunity to connect to the hidden layers and skeleton of a space and to allow their history to influence her art. Her work is about forging connections with both material and subject, uncovering the intimate moments buried beneath the surface of the public sphere. The physical properties of vitreous porcelain – at once delicate and brittle – emulate states of decay in nature, yet are built and mended by hand. She keeps her fingerprints visible and allows the clay to reveal the imperfect nature of the work as it warps, cracks, and changes. She creates moments where her porcelain installations access dimensions of both the physical and psychological landscape and find the beauty and the unrest in temporal junctures.
The installation Wrinkled Blue is about the history of a ship as a structure of naval architecture and the turbulent and poetic relationship of the sea and navigation. Impressive in volume and area, the ocean is one of the most important parts of our physical environment. To explore the sea, navigational tools from celestial navigation to instrument navigation utilizing longitude and latitude, were developed and used throughout history. Beginning with stars and clocks, and advancing to the GPS found on contemporary electronic devices, people have found means of locating themselves within their environments. Porcelain charts, maps, and historical tools will be installed in the Captain’s Office to highlight not only the history of the USS Olympia and her relationship to the sea, but also the desire to explore and locate oneself in time and place. History can be a layered sensory experience full of questions, such as how to get from here to there.
About the Artist
Jacintha Clark is a mixed-media artist interested in exploring the way we connect to the world around us by fusing materials such as iron, glass, and porcelain. Her work ranges from quiet, personal introspection, to playful, to scientific. Clark’s career in architectural restoration inspires a lot of her art. As she uncovers history in an old building she is freezing moments in time in her sculptures. Her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including the Woodmere Art Museum, and she is the recipient of the 38th Annual Fleisher Art Memorial Wind Challenge. Clark holds an Associates Degree in Arts from Arapahoe Community College; a BFA in Fine Arts from Metropolitan State College of Denver; a Post Baccalaureate Certificate from Maryland Institute College of Art; and an MFA from Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. She was born in Alamogordo, New Mexico and currently lives and works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.