Red Lodge Clay Center – Long-Term Resident 2017-19
Crista Ann Ames is a studio artist and teaching artist living in Ellensburg, Washington. Raised on a small hobby farm, she often draws on her own experiences to explore pastoral life, animal husbandry, women’s craft and fertility.
Crista received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics with a minor in Art History and Disability Studies from Washington State University. She went on to attended Utah State University for Post Baccalaureate studies in Ceramics. While receiving her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Montana she began studying dance and movement to help inform the way she sculpts the figure.
As a sculptor who works primarily in ceramics, textiles, and wood I find that the integration of both permanent and impermanent materials conveys my interest in approaches to memory, loss and transformation. Just as the act of remembering transforms an experience into something different, time degrades some elements and leaves others to endure.
Through the layering of mythology, iconography and personal narrative, my work explores how our own animal nature relates to the ways we establish and sustain personal relationships. I draw on my own experiences to explore pastoral life, animal husbandry, women’s craft and fertility.
In bridging the gap between myth and experience, I utilize my artistic practice to create altogether new stories that tell contemporary tales of trauma, joy and womanhood.