Courtney Cho and Claudia V. Solórzano are artists creating coil-built vessels and sculptures,
operating as artifacts as though they have lived past lives, waiting to be unburied, rediscovered and reinterpreted.
Cho’s works revisit vignettes from her childhood with confrontational thoughts of mortality to create ethereal pieces venturing into the absurd. She taps into her intergenerational memories as inspiration for her textures and odd porcelain forms. These become the embodiment of her nostalgic past and unforeseen future. She invites her audience to feel heartbreak and amusement with pieces such as “The Tooth Fairy Loves Me” and “Casket for my Cat’. While the naming process is very intentional and sentimental, she does not assign purpose or function to each piece. Cho lets them be and exist as they are, in a time and space of their own. Cho’s works allow her to experience a world she couldn't partake in before.
Solórzano’s sculptures navigate preservation and the ephemerality of communities confronted with gentrification and sociopolitical boundaries. In her practice, she utilizes ceramic materials toexamine socio-economic stratification and domesticity through encounters with architectural motifs from the Los Angeles urban landscape. Referencing the physical structure of homes that endure wear and tears, cracks, and weathering, Solórzano’s vessels are made of different clay bodies often pulling apart from each other in the firing process, embodying the essence of a lived-in home. Her single gate references the wrought iron gates found throughout her neighborhood and the greater Los Angeles area. It hangs as a beacon of protection and as a recurring attribute of architecture linked to the urban landscape.
Together Cho and Solórzano’s works document bygone eras, pulling from their own past and
upbringing. Their unique approach to technique and various clay bodies as a medium instead of a strict discipline allows them to exist as sculptors working beyond the bounds of traditional ceramicists and potters
operating as artifacts as though they have lived past lives, waiting to be unburied, rediscovered and reinterpreted.
Cho’s works revisit vignettes from her childhood with confrontational thoughts of mortality to create ethereal pieces venturing into the absurd. She taps into her intergenerational memories as inspiration for her textures and odd porcelain forms. These become the embodiment of her nostalgic past and unforeseen future. She invites her audience to feel heartbreak and amusement with pieces such as “The Tooth Fairy Loves Me” and “Casket for my Cat’. While the naming process is very intentional and sentimental, she does not assign purpose or function to each piece. Cho lets them be and exist as they are, in a time and space of their own. Cho’s works allow her to experience a world she couldn't partake in before.
Solórzano’s sculptures navigate preservation and the ephemerality of communities confronted with gentrification and sociopolitical boundaries. In her practice, she utilizes ceramic materials toexamine socio-economic stratification and domesticity through encounters with architectural motifs from the Los Angeles urban landscape. Referencing the physical structure of homes that endure wear and tears, cracks, and weathering, Solórzano’s vessels are made of different clay bodies often pulling apart from each other in the firing process, embodying the essence of a lived-in home. Her single gate references the wrought iron gates found throughout her neighborhood and the greater Los Angeles area. It hangs as a beacon of protection and as a recurring attribute of architecture linked to the urban landscape.
Together Cho and Solórzano’s works document bygone eras, pulling from their own past and
upbringing. Their unique approach to technique and various clay bodies as a medium instead of a strict discipline allows them to exist as sculptors working beyond the bounds of traditional ceramicists and potters
©2022
Woodbury School of Architecture
Woodbury School of Architecture
Wedge Gallery is located on the southwest end of the Woodbury University campus. Due to the COVID-19, in person visits are by appointment only. Please email us to schedule your visit.
7500 N Glenoaks Blvd
Burbank, CA 91504
7500 N Glenoaks Blvd
Burbank, CA 91504