Nyssa Mariah Barrick
Artist Statement
How many of us lose sight of our child-like enthusiasm for whimsy and the beauty to be found in nonsensical magic? Or of joy to be had in the odd that sparks happiness deep in our
souls?
Ceramics excites me because it is nothing if not process driven, and I find I am a process driven individual. The ebb and flow of the making process helps me on my journey towards centering myself and healing from past traumas. I grow through my work and learn to try to not take Life too seriously and my work does not take Life too seriously either. Living with beautiful objects that pay tribute to the pain of healing is soulful and a reminder of our humanness. My
goal is to inspire and invite those that see my sculptural and functional work to look more closely at the world around them. To rediscover their childlike enthusiasms, and the joy in the beauty to be shared in the unusual, messy, and sometimes odd, that can be found in all of us. So that we may reconnect to that inner child through whimsy.
The purpose of my tableware is to be accessible to everyone. To bring beauty to the most simple, mundane, and repetitive of actions that we all partake in in our daily lives, eating and
drinking, and to bring to those actions a bit of ritual and magic.
*Raku is a traditional Japanese firing technique that results in fiery coppers and bright turquoises usually. These are produced by firing a piece of pottery at a low temperature, but removing the piece from the kiln while it is still glowing red hot, and then placing it in a combustion chamber that is filled with a material that would catch fire such as saw dust, newsprint, pine needles, etc. and then “flamed out” at which point the pottery is removed and cooled, thus resulting in the
Raku carbon trapping blacks on the raw unglazed clay body and the copper flashing on the glazed turquoise, and a variation of other colors within the glaze.
Artist’s Biography
Mariah Barrick first found her way into the world of clay at the young age of eleven, through a youth’s ceramics class that focused on the freedom of hand building and low fire and Raku glaze firing techniques. Through this class she found her deep and abiding love for hand building and sculptural work, and Raku firing that continues today.
She has worked for clay artists Linda Gossett, and Roger Allen at The Chicken Farm Art Center when she lived in San Angelo, Texas while she was attending ASU to receive her undergrad in Art Education with a minor in Ceramics. As Fate would have it, she ended up back in Alpine, TX finishing her Art degree under potter Jimbob Salazar at Sul Ross. Life has a funny way of happening to us while we are making other plans, and she ended up with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Psychology.
She continued to take ceramics classes, this time under the tutelage of master Clayer Gregery Tegarden. She got involved in Art Club and was able to receive gallery representation as an independent Artist through Gallery on the Square where she participated as an active member in many shows and Gallery Night Art festivals, showing in the gallery as well as The Batey Bus, and the Mountain Country Christmas Bizarre. She currently is working for potter John Davis, is a Nursing student, a Clayer for her own sanity, and mother of two young children.
