Sentient Beings by Jenna Coleman
My inspiration behind this piece comes from a love for marine life and ceramics. I wanted to create a visually satisfying installation that leads the eye into the shop. My thought process behind the installation was I wanted the ceramics to be hung in boxes draped with herring net. The herring net was used to draw attention to marine life entanglement issues, which cause marine life to become distressed, injured and typically starved due to the entanglement. This depletes our seas of marine life. Fishing nets are typically made from nylon which means they do not decompose, meaning if nets are lost at sea, they remain floating for thousands of years causing pollution.
We typically perceive lobsters to be bright red, this is why some of the claws are painted in this way. We associate red lobsters with lobsters that have been boiled alive at hot temperatures, we believe this is inhumane as there is evidence to support that lobsters are sentient and feel pain. Lobsters can be many colours including blue, yellow and orange, I find them to be both fascinating and beautiful.
All of the ceramics are stoneware and hand built by me, I even created some plaster moulds to help replicate the angel fish and the claws accurately. My passion is sculptural work, making large scale ‘daring’ and ‘ambitious’ ceramics gives me joy. The organic nature of the material means you never really know the outcome of your work until it is fired in the kiln. All ceramics are hand painted and the cloth below the installation was made using a traditional Indonesian wax resist technique called batik. I led a workshop with a group of students from the Northern School of Art, they produced this beautiful tapestry for the display which includes key words surrounding marine life welfare.
The reason I am collecting feedback is I would love to grow as an artist, it is important for me to collect feedback so I can improve my next installation and generate new and innovative ideas. I am constantly growing and changing creatively, I am excited for what the future holds.
I would like to give thanks to The Dispensary for this opportunity to display my work and promote animal welfare, I hope to help bring attention to important animal rights causes again in the future. If anyone is interested in purchasing any of the ceramics from the installation, please contact me on Instagram on @jcolemanportfolio_ I would be happy to talk to you further about the pieces and prices.
Many thanks,
Jenna Coleman.