A Form Not Worth Saving

Faye Kennelly

Interview by L. Valena

Can you please describe the prompt that you were given?

I was given a short story. The way that I perceived it, was as a comment on religion and humanity. This idea of continuing to make and destroy. From there, that informed the way I went about my response.

What happened next?

Initially, reading it, immediately I thought that it would be amazing to have this one mound of clay, create a vessel and then intentionally destroy it. And then use that same lump of clay, and wedge it back, and then throw it again. And just continue that process. Originally, I wanted to do it every day for the fourteen days, but it didn’t really happen that way because I have tendonitis in my wrists. I really wanted to do it, but it hurt. So what I made in the end was two days of working that way, and also I didn’t end up using the same mound of clay each time. My original idea didn’t come out exactly how I wanted it to, but I think it got the point across.

So let’s talk about what you did do! It’s cool to know what your original intention was, but let’s talk about what happened. So you made a series of videos. Is this a format that you’ve worked in before?

Clay?

No, video.

Not really! No. Really, I’ve very tech unsavy. It would have been cool to have music or something, but I just didn’t do that. But I also really liked the raw quality of it. Each video is pretty slow. It’s at the pace that I actually move when I’m throwing. I really wanted the viewer to see how much time and work goes into creating a piece. I kind of wanted the viewer to get hooked in. Oh wow, it’s right at the end, and she’s smoothing it out, it’s such a perfect sphere. How nice it looks! And then just destroy it. It’s also really fun for me.

Yeah, I was going to ask. Was it cathartic?

Yeah, definitely.

That’s awesome. So I assume that clay is a big part of your regular practice.

Yes. I’m a ceramicist — that’s the primary medium that I work with.

What are you usually making?

I’m usually making vase-forms. I think what I’m known for is creating these sort of teeth around the rim of the vessel. So I’ve been kind of experimenting with that for years. They’re like little spikes. I call the teeth, but they really look more like shark teeth. I’m from Rhode Island, and you’re calling from a Boston number. I think that some of my childhood experiences of being on the beach worked it’s way into my work subconsciously. But I primarily make vase forms, and I’d like to move into something more sculptural eventually.

Do you think of these videos as being viewed one after another? Or would it be like a video installation, with them all playing at once? How would you want this to be experienced, in a best case scenario?

The way I sent them to you was chronological, and I think that’s the best way to view them. To see that they’re segments of the story. Here’s this piece of clay, I took this time to create this perfect, empty space, and then I crushed it. And then I go on and have to wedge it. That wedging video is sort of intentionally dizzying. I just set the phone on the wedging table, so it’s like an earthquake or something. I think I wanted the viewer to experience the power, weight, and rhythm that you have to get when you wedge. And then the next video, I throw again and destroy it again. Then, at the end, there’s a video of the one piece that I actually did keep. I didn’t include it in the videos, but I did actually end up creating something with that dome piece. I didn’t destroy it, I made something with it. I can send you a picture of that too. I cut out pieces of the dome, and then reattached them in different areas. I wasn’t necessarily thinking about the story when I did that, but it is what happened afterwards.

One thing I think is really interesting about throwing on a wheel, is that it’s clear that the person throwing the clay has an intention, but it’s kind of impossible for anyone else to know what it is. When you sat down at the wheel, did you have something in your head when you started, or not.

Good question. Ordinarily, not really. When I get commissions and stuff, that brings me a little anxiety. It has to be perfect! And I don’t like to view my work with that weird perfectionist anxiety. Normally I sit down, and I have no idea what I’m going to make, I just start throwing. For this piece, though, I did know that I wanted to make a sphere. In the story, you get the sense that it’s about god. He’s creating civilization, and watching them create and destroy these things. The idea of a dome came to me because... the planet, of course. Unless you believe in flat earth or whatever.

[Laughs] Oh, you mean the ‘theory’ of a round planet? Yes, it’s a very well-documented theory.

Yeah! Then I also liked the fact that it was an empty space inside of this vessel. So that was kind of intriguing to me as well.

Something else that is interesting to me: this piece almost seems like a performance. I mean, I think we’ve categorized this work in a few different ways over the course of this interview. But, is that something you’ve explored in your work in the past?

No, and its interesting. The pandemic has allowed me to focus more on my artwork, and kind of live my dream. I’m also a licensed art therapist, and the pandemic allowed me to slowly start a private practice doing teletherapy, and then also doing my ceramic work. I’ve sort of been navigating this weird world of business, which I had no fucking idea about, and now I have two! I have two fucking businesses. I don’t know what I’m doing, but it’s fine, I’m just doing it. So the whole social media piece... I use instagram to sell my ceramic work, and also I do markets in town and stuff. It’s interesting because everything on instagram is performative, and so I often record videos of myself making pieces and then put it one instagram, slap a stupid trendy song on it, and try to get a billion viewers or whatever. I never really classified myself as going into this realm of performer, but man, if you’ve got a small business on instagram, everyone’s a performer. Trying to sell themselves, sell their products. It’s wild.

Do you have advice for another artist approaching this project for the first time?

My friend told me about this. He had done it, and he prefaced it much the way you preface it in your email. It doesn’t have to be a giant, amazing thing, just respond. So I guess my advice to anyone, is to respond authentically. Lean in, and allow the work to organically create itself. That’s my advice for anyone making art ever.

Call Number: M38PP | M39FI.keA

Faye Kennelly is a New Orleans-based, yankee-raised Art Therapist and Ceramicist. Her work both invites and simultaneously repels physical intimacy and touch, it’s intuitive, evocative, curious and animated. Faye believes that making art is dangerous and revealing and this is likely why she’s always done it.