About: Artist Catherine Wiesener

MFA, Sculpture, University of Illinois. 2003 BFA, Ceramic Sculpture, University of Cincinnati, 1999

I like to work in porcelain because of its reference to historical ceramics and because of its endless possibilities. I think clay has an equal role in my creative process contributing ideas and directions that no other material could provide. My influences include most directly my father, Fred Wiesener, but indirectly 18th century European ceramics, the work of J.J. Audobon, Walt Disney, and pop culture. I am interested in how the ideals expressed by the aforementioned are transmitted and absorbed in our current culture.

The themes of my work vary in each piece but overall express a fascination with the ornate as an extreme mode of human expression and our complex relationship with animals that becomes part of this expression. The idealized portrayal of animals in cartoons, children's movies and heroic animal stories are part of my inspiration as well as taxidermy animals as symbols of power, status, or sophistication. The humor in the work is a result of mixing these ideas and having fun in the studio.

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