The content of Ione's work, if it can be said to have
'content' or 'meaning', is emotion, or the affective response it invokes from the
viewer - something that is, generally speaking, with the possible exception of
humour, missing in craft, and something that tends to be anathematized and
squeezed out of art. In judging her own work she attaches great
importance to the unguarded emotional response of the viewer. After
that she is interested in how the viewer attaches meaning to the work and
creates a narrative. The act of attaching a bird foot onto a sphere
vivifies the whole. When several of these objects are presented
together, the viewer not only creates a narrative space around each piece, she
fills in the spaces between. It has nothing to do with the foot or the
sphere, and everything to do with emotion and the obscure processes of the
human imagination.
She also discovered that there is an inescapable affective hierarchy imbedded in this human response to recognizable organic forms. High on this list are bones, especially the skull, which makes the skull very difficult to use. Another associatively potent organic form is the wing. This notion - the associative potency of bones - led to the 'Ossuary' shows (2006 and 2007).
Janet Koplos maintains craft is concerned primarily with techinque. But Ione, although she considers her work craft-based, is not at all inter- ested in questions/responses concerning the technical side of her work.
Her artisanal origins and dedication to her medium do come into play insofar as the particular material she works with - glass - seems uniquely capable of serving her ends. Somehow, the 'flattening' or transmutation of complex miscellaneous organic forms into this inert but visually elusive and changeable substance - glass -seems to heighten the effects she seeks - the initial affective impact, and the narrative reflex.
The content of Ione's work, if it can be said to have
'content' or 'meaning', is emotion, or the affective response it invokes from the
viewer - something that is, generally speaking, with the possible exception of
humour, missing in craft, and something that tends to be anathematized and
squeezed out of art. In judging her own work she attaches great
importance to the unguarded emotional response of the viewer. After
that she is interested in how the viewer attaches meaning to the work and
creates a narrative. The act of attaching a bird foot onto a sphere
vivifies the whole. When several of these objects are presented
together, the viewer not only creates a narrative space around each piece, she
fills in the spaces between. It has nothing to do with the foot or the
sphere, and everything to do with emotion and the obscure processes of the
human imagination.
She also discovered that there is an inescapable affective hierarchy imbedded in this human response to recognizable organic forms. High on this list are bones, especially the skull, which makes the skull very difficult to use. Another associatively potent organic form is the wing. This notion - the associative potency of bones - led to the 'Ossuary' shows (2006 and 2007).
Janet Koplos maintains craft is concerned primarily with techinque. But Ione, although she considers her work craft-based, is not at all inter- ested in questions/responses concerning the technical side of her work.
Her artisanal origins and dedication to her medium do come into play insofar as the particular material she works with - glass - seems uniquely capable of serving her ends. Somehow, the 'flattening' or transmutation of complex miscellaneous organic forms into this inert but visually elusive and changeable substance - glass -seems to heighten the effects she seeks - the initial affective impact, and the narrative reflex.
An example of the irre- pressibility of the narra- tive impulse:
In 2009, having just completed another major project, I went to the studio and created
a limited series of small pieces which were essentially quick five- finger-exercises.
'St Stylus', 'Anorak', and 'Rex' are part of this group. Although they were conceived
simply as technical whimsies, they quickly took on a life of their own and asserted
themselves individually as fully-formed characters, each with a personality and an
implied past. She adds, In the process I have gently appropriated/subverted an overfamiliar
sculptural convention that has largely fallen into disuse, the bust.
- Cheongju International Craft Biennale, 2011