Bridget
Fairbank
@bpracticalpottery
CerAMICA BOTANICA:
A CONSTANT AND MISGUIDED OPTIMISM
Exhibition, 2020
Flowers and plants have long been codified and are powerful communicative objects. Fairbank’s past work considers flora, wild or domestic, as a living witness to humanity. Now she asks the viewer to witness the plants, invasive, local and exotic that are attempting to exist, cleaning our air, having sex and fighting for survival here in Alberta.
innocuous Tropicals
Exhibition, 2018
The source material for these compositions has been continuously accumulated through Florida living.
In Florida plants persist. These are specific species, from particular places. They are researched passionately and rigorously whether native flora, innocuous, invasive imports demanding space, plants that make you ill or plants that offer remedy. Rather than translating the specific, the tile is meant to be plant-like, expressive, a reminder that man is not apart from, but a part of nature. These pieces are conduits through which you may feel that exponential growth is possible.
Growth
Exhibition(s), 2017
The domestic space is the most intimate and weighty. The objects in our private spaces bare witness to our daily actions and relationships. In these wall pieces I consider the house plant and planter as an entity that bares witness. I choose to focus on a potted plant so that the implied space and relationships beyond the subject may be felt and imagined.
Foodscapes: From Seed to Mouth
M F A Thesis Exhibition, 2017
Eating is both personal and highly political. The cause and effect of purchasing and eating a food item is obscure to a consumer and the repercussions of our choices have consequence. I use the metaphorical landscapes of food as a catalyst for making work about the discourses that mediate our relationships with food. Foodscapes: From Seed to Mouth invites you to take action and see the beauty of food. I present the actions of gardening: planting. picking, preparing and eating as enjoyable steps towards the reclamation of the food system.
The Pineapple Project
Implements, safety gear and fruit, 2016
A pineapple should be turned upside-down for 20mins before cutting so that the sweet juices can disperse evenly throughout the fruit, this little known fact has been the impetus for the Pineapple Project and sparked the creation of a ceramic pineapple stand to facilitate turning a pineapple on its head.
When was the last time you considered a pineapple?
Experimental Earthenware
Earthenware, 2014/15
Clay is the most pleasurable material to work with. Push it, it goes. Pull it, its comes. These are all wheel thrown pots that have been cut, combined and altered with soft slab additives. Clay can be and take any form a skilled maker wishes. Here Fairbank plays with material, color and space to make unconventional containers.
Nova Scotian Eathernware
Earthenware, 2013
This B Practical Pottery work is made with local potter Joan Bruneau’s clay recipe. The recipe contains a high content of local Shaw brick clay making it a smooth and flexible. ideal for complex construction. The natural red hue is luxurious, warm and earthy- an ideal canvas for electric colored slips. These bright and bold pots made to celebrate eating and are a joy to use.
