STATEMENT

In my creative process I tend to avoid that which already has a solid representation in the world. Instead I focus on ideas and mechanisms, extrapolating them into the objects I make. They come in forms of gestures and fragments of seemingly disjoined processes, and I task myself with finding their patterns and rules.

 

Language, as an agreed upon system of conventions, may often seem arbitrary, but it is in fact governed by rules and processes which are regular, structured, and intuitive. Through years of unconscious statistical observations and computations in our minds, we know what is allowed in the language and what is not, what belongs there and what is an outlier.

The awareness of patterns is intuitive, even if we cannot name them.

We only notice them when an irregularity or divergence arises. It is only when looked at closely these patterns emerge into a coherent set, a linguistic system, a language.

 

Even though I am drawn to architecture, I see it as a system of processes and treat its organized and multi-dependent nature as a canvas for my work, a starting point. It is on that canvas that I build my linguistic systems, primarily in the syntactic and phonological space. While syntax deals with the entire sentence level structure, phonology goes to the smallest units of sounds and principles that govern them. However, both are forms of grammar and both draw their conclusions from an interaction of segments, be it words or phonemes.

 

It is the processes that govern language that I apply to my sculptural work. I use my understanding of language principles and through my own arsenal of shapes and objects create dependencies and interactions.

 

My work begins in one of two ways: either with a specific linguistic process in mind which I want to explore or with a mental representation of shapes and their relationships, which end up connecting to a linguistic node.

 

What I am essentially creating is my own language of objects, my linguistic system in the visual and mental space, not unlike that of I-Language, an individual or internal language, thought to be a mental object (in Chomsky’s transformational grammar).

 

By applying principles of science I strive for the elegant solution, which tends to be the simplest one.

 

INSTALLATIONS

ARSENAL 2015

Porcelain, glaze, PVC pipes, paint

Installation size: 8' x 9' x 11"

111 ATTENTION CUPS 2015

porcelain, glaze

 installation spread over 5km,

each piece 7" x 3" x 3"

PORCELAIN PLANTATIONS 2014

porcelain

installation size: 500 sq.feet

 

TEMPLATES 2012-2013

porcelain, glaze

installation size: 8' x 12' x 15"

 

INTERACTIVE CANVASES 2011

porcelain, steel wire

installation size: 40' length

RUNGS 2010

porcelain, fishing wire

120' feet long

RAW 2008

porcelain, paint, rubber tubing

12.5' x 10' x 24"

LANGUAGE BUILDS 2007

porcelain, glaze, vinyl tubing

15' x 17' x 3'

COARTICULATION 2006

porcelain, glaze, fiber

65" x 120" x 4"

PHONOLOGY 2006

porcelain, plaster, pigment

10.5' x 54" x 13'

DEPENDENCIES 2006

porcelain, fiber

107" x 60" x 48"

SCULPTURES

WHEN WORKING ON MY SCULPTURES, I AM USING ANALOGIES SIMILAR

TO THE PROCESSES THAT COME TOGETHER  TO FORM LANGUAGE.

GESTURES 2014

porcelain

variable, e.g. 7” x 12” x 15”

SCALE 2012 - 2013

porcelain

variable

FRAGMENTS 2014

porcelain

variable

90 DEGREES 2012

porcelain

20" x 20" x 2"

FORMANTS 2011

porcelain, rubber tubing

30" x 48" 20"

CONGLOMERATION 2010

porcelain

30" x 25" x 10"

TOOLS 2009

porcelain

18" x 11" x 16"

QUARTER TURNS 2012

porcelain

12' x 8" x 8"

OSCILLATIONS 2011 - 2014

porcelain, powder coated aluminum

or metal and tool dip

12' x 30" x 20"

MANY TO ONE 2010

porcelain, glaze

17" x 25" x 7"

CANVASES 2009 - 2010

porcelain

variable, e.g. 17" x 12" x 6"

EXHIBITS

2016

(upcoming) Solo Show, Linda Hodges Gallery, Seattle, WA

 

2015

Storefronts, Arsenal - site specific installation - juried

Seattle, WA

 

NEPO 5k Don't Run - 111 Attention Cups - juried

Seattle, WA

 

2014

Making and Breaking, Linda Hodges Gallery - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

Accreted Terrane, Museum of Northwest Art,

curated by David Francis - juried, La Conner, WA

 

NEPO 5k Don't Run - Porcelain Plantations - juried,

Seattle, WA

 

Real Abstract, Linda Hodges Gallery - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

Artist Trust, 27th Anniversary Benefit Art Auction - juried, Seattle, WA

 

2013

Storefronts, Templates - site specific installation - juried, Seattle, WA

 

Terra Linear-the ceramic line, two installations: Scale and Templates,

curated by  Lisa Conway - invitational

Vancouver, WA

 

2012

Abstract Affinities, Francine Seders Gallery, curated by Anne Hirondelle;

in conjunction with 46th NCECA conference - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

The Potter and the Urn, Lundgren Monuments, curated by Greg Lundgren; in conjunction with 46th NCECA conference - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

Clay Lives Here! Seattle Design Center, curated by Wally Bivins;

in conjunction with  46th NCECA conference - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

Artist Trust, 25th Anniversary Benefit Art Auction - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

2011

Heaven and Earth 3, COCA (Center on Contemporary Art)

Point Shilshole Beach &  Carkeek Park Outdoor Exhibit;

site specific installation Interactive Canvases, Seattle, WA

 

SOIL 2011 Invitational Art Auction, Seattle Design Center, Seattle, WA

 

Seattle Weekly's Artopia,

Seattle, WA

 

2010

Outsider/Insider, COCA (Center on Contemporary Art) - invitational,

Seattle, WA

 

Heaven and Earth 2, COCA (Center on Contemporary Art) Carkeek Park Outdoor  Exhibit; site specific installation Rungs, Seattle, WA

 

Meet Greet Rinse Repeat, Monarch Contemporary - invitational, collaboration with Troy Gua,

Seattle, WA

 

Resident Alien, COCA (Center on Contemporary Art) - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

Mapping, Monarch Contemporary - solo show, Seattle, WA

 

MadArt Redux, Foster/White Gallery;

curated by Phen Huang & Bryan Ohno - invitational, Seattle, WA

 

2009 - 2010

ART 2010, Viridian Artists and Friends,

Viridian Artists Gallery New York City, NY

 

2009

Sculpture Burial Map, site specific outdoors installation (ongoing), Washington State

 

Collision, 1020 Group Show, Ouch My Eye Gallery

Seattle, WA

 

Heaven and Earth, COCA (Center on Contemporary Art)

Carkeek Park Outdoor Exhibit;

site specific installation Language within Landscape, Seattle, WA

 

Ship It II, Ouch My Eye Gallery, Seattle, WA

 

Room for Eleven, NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts), Juror:  John Balistreri, Phoenix, AZ

 

MINI MINI: A 4 x 4 Mini Art Show, Conspire Art Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

 

MINI MINI: A 4 x 4 Mini Art Show

Cartel Coffee Lab Tempe, AZ

 

Artist Trust, 22nd Invitational Art Auction

Seattle, WA

 

2008

Raw, Pottery Northwest Gallery - solo exhibit

Seattle, WA

 

Connected by Clay, Sea-Tac Airport Exhibit

Seattle, WA

 

PONCHO Invitational Art Auction

Seattle, WA

 

Clay? II, Kirkland Arts Center, Jurors: Doug Jeck,

Akio Takamori, Jamie Walker, Kirkland, WA

 

2007 - 2008

Language Builds, installation

Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, WA

 

2007

PNW Resident Show, Pottery Northwest Gallery,

Seattle, WA

 

The Big Bang Birthday Bash,

Henry Art Museum, Seattle, WA

 

Artist Trust, 20th Anniversary Benefit Art Auction

Seattle, WA

 

Sample Points, Pottery Northwest Gallery - solo exhibit, Seattle, WA

 

2006

PNW Resident Show, Pottery Northwest Gallery

Seattle, WA

 

SOIL 2006 Invitational Art Auction, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA

 

Architecture of Language, Ceramics Gallery,

University of Washington - solo exhibit, Seattle, WA

 

Ceramics Biennial Exhibition 2006,

New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH

 

19th National Juried Art Exhibit, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Mable House, Mableton, GA

 

Show and Tell, Ceramics Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

Regional Juried Exhibition NCECA

National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts

Portland, OR

 

School of Art OPEN, Jacob Lawrence Gallery

University of Washington, Juror: Esther Lutthikuizen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2006

Post-baccalaureate Degree

Studio Art: Ceramics

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

2004-2006

PhD Program

Linguistics

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

2004

Master of Arts Degree

Linguistics

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

1998

Bachelor of Arts Degree

Linguistics

University of Washington, Seattle, WA

 

1993-1994

Master's Program

Polish Philology

Uniwersytet Warszawski, Warsaw, Poland

EDUCATION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011

4Culture Individual Artist Project Grant

 

2008

Artist Trust GAP Grant (Grants for Artist Projects)

 

2006

Show and Tell, Juror's Pick

 

2006

NCECA Regional Exhibition Award

 

2003 & 2004

Foreign Language and Area Study (FLAS) Graduate Fellowship

 (x2)

 

2003 & 2004

Graduate School Fund for Excellence and Innovation (x2)

AWARDS

 

CONTACT

 To schedule a studio visit in Seattle WA,

or get in touch, please contact

 

 +1 (206) 850-6640

sylwia@sylwiatur.com

 

sylwia tur

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