Roberta Griffith - ABOUT

Throughout a life of making art, I have created hundreds of images in drawing, painting, printmaking, watercolor and pastel. I have also created hundreds of pots on the potter’s wheel and made numerous sculptural objects by hand using clay and mixed media. During the past 20 years, I have focused on paintings, drawings, clay, hot glass and installation. Occasionally there is a relationship between my two-dimensional images and three-dimensional objects, but many times there is not. My drawings and paintings are composed in black and white or color, which may be combined with collage, to create both abstract and figurative images. When I work three-dimensionally with clay or hot glass, it is not only to create objects, but also to make forms that provide a basis for my installation art. I enjoy throwing on the potter’s wheel, but it is usually with the objective of making variations on a form, or to provide a surface for painterly images or designs, rather than replicating functional objects. Creating multiples with variations on a form or exploring decorative possibilities fascinates me. The shapes and objects I make evolve from an internal dialogue that occurs as I work with the material. They are inspired by a desire to make images, objects and installations that evoke associations of places, their cultural manifestations, as well as the cyclical nature of life and death. Many of these associations stem from advanced study of historic and pre-historic peoples, personal archaeological research in the Americas and extensive world travel. The push and pull of ideas that occur in making art while utilizing a variety of media enable me to realize different manifestations of colors, shapes and forms that become completely mine. My art works serve as material metaphors, as well as unique repositories, for my memories, thoughts and ideas.