Natasha Dikareva
Visions In Clay 2022
Website:
Biography:
Born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Natasha Dikareva now lives in Newmarket, New Hampshire. Her ceramic sculptures explore interconnections between biological systems, mythology and contemporary technology. Drawing on her Eastern European background, her work bridges cultural and linguistic barriers, speaking to the common experience of life. She received her BFA in graphics and drawing from the Kiev State Academy of Art and Design and her MFA in ceramics and sculpture from the University of Minnesota. In 2012, she won the Grand Prize at the American Museum of Ceramic Art. Her work is featured in various publications, including 500 Prints on Clay and New Ceramics European magazine, and is held in public and private collections. She exhibits locally and internationally.
Artist Statement:
I find refuge in my studio, creating now more than ever, despite the aura of anxiety enveloping our world today. Without the former preoccupations of deadlines and other routine errands which used to take me out of the house, I am fortunate enough to focus on my work in my home studio. As each day looks like the other, only my sculptures continue to change and have lives of their own.
As an artist, I am poised between two worlds; one is the tangible reality of the everyday, the other is the world of possibility in which my sculptures live. I travel between the two, between the physical present and the imaginative future, bringing dreams down to earth, shaping unfamiliar creatures to life. I allow myself to be a channel, guided by unseen forces of my environment and personal relationships, as well as formal aesthetic concerns. My sculptures use me as a vehicle, communicating their need to grow in a certain direction through my hands.
My work coalesces through narrative symbolism, drawing on ancient Greek myths and Eastern philosophies of spiritual transformation, to form new deities and legends for our time. Metaphorical possibilities arise, illuminating hidden depths of our collective subconscious. I tap the source of dreams to extract the elixir of a new understanding and a bright future..
Rain Goddess During Social Distance Time
porcelain, sprayed underglazes, glazes
13” x 8” x 7”
2022
$1800