Emily Irvin: Husk, 2018-2020
To husk something is to remove is outer covering. When I was a child growing up in Appalachia, I often husked corn. I was surprised when I removed the green, silky outside to reveal the bright and golden center of the corn. Husking is an unmasking – revealing of the potential of an inside. This body of work, called husk, is a reflection upon this process of revealing. The work reveals the potentiality of clay as unfired, of vessels as non-functional, and as the body to function within the confines of its own ability. In this body of work, there is a material language that surfaces as mattresses and clay and hair are repeated throughout the work. These materials serve communicate these explorations of clay and vessels (including bodies).