Julia Feld: Selected works, 2017-2021

Shelter in Place, 2021

All my work is an attempt to deal with psychological issues and explore emotions and feelings in depth. Last year was exceptionally challenging for all of us, since it brought many unexpected, unforeseen impediments. Fear of an uncertain future; inability to see and hug loved ones; and the suffocating experience of “sheltering in place” have left their marks on people’s minds and hearts. This body of work is a direct response to the situation. The sculptures are very simple, they reflect on the form of a house that kids usually draw – a simple box with a pointy roof. The house is a universal symbol of comfort, a shelter, and a place of safety. Humans are social creatures and being isolated evokes different fears and uncertainties. We tend to exaggerate or downplay certain things and show different sensitivity to the obstructions. The universal symbol of a “house” was used as a base for the narrative that depicted loneliness, nostalgia and apprehension.

During the pandemic for some it became a self-appointed prison, a confined space without escape. Even if you are a lucky one with a loving family, you still got to the point when the inability to interact with people outside of your household became unbearable. People became aware of what is really important in life and how to make every day count.

Full captions: clay, hand-built, carved and hand-painted with underglazes, fired to cone 5 (2183F/1196C) oxidation, hand-made decals, fired to cone 04 (1945F/1070C)

Essence of a Woman, 2017-2018

What is the longest time we can bear to remember? One second, one month, one year? Each day has to be taken as it comes in order to reach the flexibility of processing overwhelming emotional and informational storms. It is a challenging practice moving the fabric of time by stretching it and wrapping it around your existence in order to accommodate every nuance, every thought, and every detail. Time has to be broken down, not in a conventional sense of minutes or seconds, but in a sense of importance and consideration of every step, no matter how long or short this step is.

Can we plan our lives, or are we programmed to be a part of a routine that is predestined? Is it important to be yourself in the world when it’s expected that we all play certain roles? Is it possible to lay down a cloth of life and place all the important moments of existence in the right places?

This body of work is an attempt to answer all these questions. I used a stylized female shape as a canvas for a short narrative that depicts a single moment of life, one emotion, one memory, one reflection… Each sculpture is a short story, one page from a short story, one illustration to a sentence, a visual description of one word.

Full captions: clay, hand-built, hand-carved and painted with underglazes, low-fire glazes