Leslie Wentzell
Leslie Wentzell | Ceramic Sculpture and Pottery
Nature’s forms have always fascinated me. Seedpods, seashells and drift wood manage to find their way home with me, taking up residence on my workbench to serve as inspiration. I am impressed by their quiet beauty. Contemplating them may stir up an image or emotion that I then give form to within my work.
As a formalist, my work is strongly linear. Curving lines provide a sense of fluid movement – a perception that stands in direct contrast to the hard and static vitrified clay. Negative space is used as a compositional element with its own shape and volume, and for the shadows it creates within the work. More importantly, my use of negative space evokes within the work a sense of enfolding or cradling that relates to my notion of the feminine/maternal. My sculptures are abstractions of the female figure which evolve in response to forms that have captured my imagination. They may contain references to seedpods, cocoons or the heart – vessel of life and love, which I manipulate, distort or rearrange. As the distinction between nature and humankind blurs and dissolves within the work, vaguely familiar elements coupled with the modeled textures of the clay and sensuous surface treatments invite an emotional response from the viewer.
I am deeply moved by the beauty of nature’s forms, yet only upon further contemplation do I begin to understand their implications about life and growth and death. In the same way, it is only as I work on each piece that its meaning gradually unfolds and becomes clear to me. My sculptures are a commentary on the human experience. Each of my pieces speaks to me about growth and change, sexuality and love, the desire to nurture and protect, and the need to be protected. My work affirms and exalts that experience.
