Attachment
Clay and Metal Redefined by Raina McDonald and Fenn Martin
The word “attachment” is popularly defined as an object, a relationship, and a process. It can refer to a device attached to a machine or implement, the physical connection by which one thing is attached to, and the process of physically attaching. These concepts are investigated in Attachment, a multi-media collaboration between ceramic sculptor Fenn Martin and interdisciplinary artist Raina McDonald. Martin and McDonald forge a new rural aesthetic by attaching metal and clay, found farm implements and contemporary motifs.
In this collection of low relief work, juicy ceramic glazed tiles are combined with hand forged steel and worn found objects from Nova Scotia farms. Situated within transforming rural landscapes, Attachment looks to these old found objects as artifacts that form the heart of ceramic and metal assemblages. Mower parts, hinge brackets and various antique hand tools become source material for pattern, connection and form as Martin and McDonald explore the past lives and possible narratives of these lost objects. McDonald and Martin commemorate these fragments of the past, now so distant from their original use and worn with rust and time, at the same time that they re-activate them in a new context.
Inspired by the Do-It-Yourself spirit that still characterizes their respective home communities of Salt Springs and the Ohio Valley, McDonald and Martin fix and fabricate attachment components as needed. Large bolts and threaded rod are fired into clay; ceramic is welded and bolted to metal and wrapped with wire. Martin embellishes the clay sections with black and white hand drawings and printed patterns. With a keen eye for color and composition, McDonald cuts up and re- arranges fragments outsourcing new parts as necessary, often to McDonald’s partner Ruben Irons, a Blacksmith who welds, rivets, and forges components.
Attachment is a body of work that contemplates rural objects, relationships, and processes, as they attach to the transforming rural landscape. The exhibit explores different ways of connecting past to present, people to land, ceramic to steel.