Member Spotlight Interview: Hayley Cranberry
Wild Bower Studio catches up with Studio Member, Hayley Cranberry as she prepares for her first Solo show at Sixth Street Haunted House featuring her handmade ceramics.
Image by Liam Mayhugh
Could you tell us about your story and how you got to the place where you are now?
In high school I was interested in art, mostly photography and graphic design/web design, but I never took any classes or focused on any one medium specifically. I ended up getting really into photo in college, where I took one film class and really enjoyed developing and processing film in the darkroom. I mostly took photos as a hobby, and didn’t feel super confident or love what I was creating. I’ve also tried to watercolor paint, sketch, and draw with pastels, but I always hated everything I created and felt embarrassed by my attempt to make art. I ended up spending most of my early twenties focusing on my career. I have a Master or Urban Planning and work as a geospatial data analyst with the NYC Parks Department. I actually really love data and maps, but it doesn’t give me the kind of creative outlet that I seek.
How long have you been working in ceramics and what lead to you to want to work in this medium? Is it the history, material, process, community or something else?
For years, I was interested in learning to play with clay, but had never had the time or funds to do so. I was drawn to the final products that other artists were making: mostly the interesting silhouettes of vessels and physical textures of glazes. I’m really interested in physical touch as a part of art and I wanted to be intimate with a medium that allowed me to feel everything. Ceramics allow you to feel the clay at so many different stages: wet and clumpy slip, squeezable balls of clay, fragile greenware, rough bisque, and the final product coated in a variety of glazes. Sometimes I break a piece of greenware for fun when it’s leather-hard because I simply like the sensation of it so much. Its satisfying snap reminds me of breaking an eraser in half which was something I used to do as a kid.
In spring 2018, I quit my job that I was really unhappy at and spent 9 months walking dogs and relearning how to love myself as a human instead of a capitalist cog. That’s when I took up ceramics. After saving up and finally quitting, I was able to afford to take wheel throwing lessons and have free time to practice. I went to the ceramics studio pretty much every day. I remember telling everyone that I had finally found my medium. I was so excited, clay just felt right.
How would you define the style of your work and how did it develop?
I am anything but a perfectionist, so my pieces are often have a “wabi-sabi” or “natural” feeling to them. I seek forms that are strange, curving, and angular (I am still developing my skills to do this). I like my pieces to be glazed in a more minimalistic way. I always glaze in solid colors, and always matte. I have been leaning more towards blacks and whites lately, but when I glaze with color, I like them to be vibrant. I think my style of ceramics is very similar to my style in clothing/fashion. Mostly blacks and whites, severe yet flowing in terms of form, interesting texturally, sometimes a pop of bright color.
Image by Liam Mayhugh
Before I had even begun developing my ceramic skills, I had ideas of what forms and concepts I wanted to build on. I’m interested in the juxtaposition of traditional with more contemporary concepts. I like the idea of forming clay into vessels, an ancient method, and piercing them with contemporary earrings. Ancient clay forms, but pierced with a stainless steel hoop from my wardrobe, and glazed with a dark black, smooth, matte glaze. It feels like fashion-meets-design to me.
What does your process usually like? Do you have any philosophies or rituals attached to your craft? Do you have a specific shape or end goal in mind when starting a piece, or do you let it form as you work?
I rarely start a piece with a form or end-goal in mind unless it’s a commission. I often let the piece guide itself. Sometimes there are general shapes that I have in mind, but I find that my best work forms itself. I have been throwing multiple pieces lately and subsequently handbuilding them to fit together as one piece, and that feels like it is really working for me right now.
What is it like to be a New York-based artist? What makes this community unique?
The NYC art world is hard to get a foot into. I’m not sure I’m even there yet. It’s competitive, brutal, and “scene-y”. I generally try to stay in my own lane.
Speaking of community, you founded LUTTE COLLECTIVE, a community and space for disabled and chronically ill artists. Do you want to tell us more about this?
Yes, Lutte is an online community that features a disabled or chronically ill artist each month. I interview and write pieces about each artists’ work. I don’t consider myself a writer really, though. I try to be as unbiased as possible, simply letting the artist describe their own work. Each feature is an artist profile, not an art critique. Lutte gives a voice to disabled artists (including myself), whether their work directly focuses on their disability or not. Art is always political, even if it is not intentional.
Some of my pieces are directly related to my illness, such as Luxury Goods (2019) and Phlebotic Self Portrait (2018). Other pieces I make might not be related to my health outwardly, but realistically, everything I do always relates back to the way I navigate the world as a chronically ill person.
Image by Liam Mayhugh
You’ve got a solo show coming up on Oct 18th at Sixth Street Haunted House. Tell us about it. Will your show have a theme or overall focus? Are you trying to say anything in particular?
The show is entitled “have you ever met an angel,” and is dedicated to my late dog, Junie. It will be a body of work that includes larger vessels than I have made in the past. I am in the midst of creating them now, and they will be in all black and white matte.
Junie’s death was sudden and was part of the reason I quit my job in 2018. I was incredibly impacted by it emotionally and realized that I needed to leave the negative energy of my job behind and focus solely on love and positivity in my life. Junie lead me to ceramics.
Where do you see your practice moving towards? Are there any new techniques you’d like to try in the future?
I am trying so hard right now to throw 3+ lbs of clay. A lot of people say it doesn’t take any physical strength to throw, but along with learning the right positioning and skillset, it has been extremely hard for me, someone who is fatigued and ill and has no upper body strength. You need to push your body weight into the clay, and sometimes I just physically can’t do it. So I’m hoping at some point I can throw much larger vessels, and am slowly working my way up. It’s always exciting when I can claim a piece as the biggest I’ve thrown on the wheel.
Do you have a dream project that you would love to realize someday?
I have a goal of one day creating a large-scale colon/intestinal sculpture (haha). This is directly related to my illness.
Are there any other local makers whose work you’re really excited about?
Simone Bodmer-Turner, always. I am so intrigued not only by her art and forms she creates, but also by the aesthetic of the way she presents herself on the internet. I am also constantly drooling over the work of Jessica Coates in terms of form and clay bodies (though she is based in Germany), and fascinated with the colorways of glazes created by Workaday Handmade.
One of my friends, Mara Barringer, is an incredible painter who also makes hand-made clothing from recycled fabrics. I met her because I fell in love with her paintings when I used to interview artists for The Le Sigh (who are newly launching their next generation as Slumber Mag).
If people want to keep up-to-date on your adventures, where should they go?
Instagram: @hayleycranberry
or my website: www.hayleycranberry.com
Anything else you want to share?
❤
sending u all health
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Thank you for reading our latest Studio Member Spotlight Interview with Hayley Cranberry.
Wild Bower Studio’s Membership space is located in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Our Studio Member Spotlight was created inline with our mission to introduce, educate and support our members and artist friends. To stay up to date with news, Spotlight Interviews and more, please follow our Medium page or subscribe to our Newsletter.