Colleen Toledano

My work is autobiographically inspired by notions of family, motherhood, and domestic relationships. It considers the chaotic beauty in the balance between the happenstance and organization in my household, I use visual cues of foliage and florals within the work, to depict the ever-changing growth in myself as my role in my family constantly transforms. Taking formal inspiration from the decorative and complex aesthetics of historical Wedgewood pottery and Sevre porcelain, I look at the home and the objects such a vessel, that can represent protection, nourishment and transportation, to metaphorically identify as myself. The visual tension of delicate and fragile floating porcelain leaves, consider the beauty and chaotic that coexist in my identity and relationships within my home and my life outside of a home. Inspired by the influence my husband and child have on my growth as a person, externally and internally, from afar the vessel looks formal and organized and then up close the abundance of the leaves and the blending of multiple vessels is more apparent. More recently, the work refers to maze hedges and labyrinths and other intertwining paths, the work can be seen as a physical representation of my own unpredictable and predictable journey. Although the work appears stable and grounded, there is still the possibility in the transformative change and adaption that is always present in life. The appearance of the work lends itself to the idea of perceiving how nature can often be manipulated for the viewer to see it in a specific way. Often time can be very different that who it is seen by others on the inside and we can use ways to contol this perception. This is done through the illusions created with the form and textural surfaces. My hope is to attempt to capture the strength and resilience of the human experience, providing viewers with a tangible representation of our paths and a reverence to our personal transformations.
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