Red Lodge Clay Center – Short-Term Resident 2025
Olivia Propeck is from Fargo, North Dakota. She is a ceramic artist who received her Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in 2024. Propeck’s upbringing in the Midwest did not provide much representation of what a queer home could look like, so her work materializes the quieter moments of her own queer intimate relationships, domestic space, and her memory. Through clay, she works to bring queer experiences, objects, and spaces physically closer to the viewer, bridging the emotional and experiential gap that can exist in heteronormative society. Her work can be found locally around markets in Portland, Maine and her website.
I make work that seeks to encapsulate contemporary queer life. Drawing influence from Greco-Roman forms, my vessels and functional ware work to visualize the quieter moments of queer domesticity. Through layering and multiple firings, I draw and paint scenes that visually represent quiet dinners with my partner, and objects in our living room, as well as sweaters and clothing we share as a part of our entwined closet. I couple these moments with hidden historic and contemporary queer symbols such as violets and lavender flowers, cartons of oat milk, and carabiners as a way to collage the lineage of lesbian culture. My work investigates the relationship between sapphic life and the domestic sphere, focuses attention on the quieter aspects of queer domesticity, and opens a conversation about queer cultural norms.