Elaborate

“If you want to understand and appreciate ceramic ornamentation, be prepared to wade into vast waters. You start by researching when humans started making marks on clay objects and gradually come up to the present day; a daunting task, filled with millions of objects, over thousands of years and best left to someone else. This exhibition is but a part of the greater story of decorated ceramics. It celebrates the work of five artists who are fearless when it comes to ornament and affirm decoration is non-negotiable! Their work is the ultimate antidote to Adolf Loos’ famous (infamous?) 1913 essay, “Ornament is Crime”, in which he characterized ornament as “degenerate”.   

“Elaborate” is both adjective and verb. It is a descriptor – a complicated arrangement of parts and details – and an action – to develop or explain something in detail – both are at play in the exhibition. The artists’ aesthetic influences, be they abstract or representational, merge with contemporary issues and ideas; using decoration as an investigative framework.  

Acutely aware of ornament’s associations – frivolous, superficial, other, and gendered, these artists subvert and counteract deprecating stereotypes. Each has developed a distinct “decorative vocabulary” to invigorate surfaces, forms, and ideas. Their works are effusive, confrontational, expressive, and non-apologetic – espousing more-is-more and kicking Mr. Loos to the curb.” – Melanie Egan, Director of Craft & Design, Harbourfront Centre

Marissa Y Alexander is a ceramic artist living and working in Hamilton, Ontario. She builds with clay to create both functional and sculptural ceramic objects. She is interested in inventing form through coil building and establishing alluring surfaces that create patterns and narratives to visually describe her reflections on everyday life and envision the ideal amid contemporary reality. Alexander received her MFA in Ceramic Art from Alfred University and was previously a full-time Artist-In-Residence at Harbourfront Centre (2014-2017). Her work is included in various public and private collections and she has garnered recognition through awards while exhibiting nationally and internationally.

“My ceramic work, with its detailed decorative embellishments of floral motifs, foliage, and floating figures, explores the profound role of decoration in storytelling. My thoughts revolve around concepts of beauty, femininity, nature, and materiality, allowing me to develop ideas that serve as extensions of myself, transforming fleeting memories into permanent expressions. By embracing ornate and complex designs, my pieces reflect the dual nature of elaboration—both as intricate compositions and as thoughtful developmental processes. Flowers and leaves fall and surround, vines intertwine, and figures float within a garden that provides a space for celebration and inherent abundance. Through this exploration, I aim to highlight the significance of decoration in ceramics, celebrating its beauty, complexity, and ability to convey deep meaning.”

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Marc Egan is a ceramic artist living and working in Toronto, Canada. His studio practice includes the production of pottery, sculpture and tile, as well as extensive material research. Egan also works with artists as a ceramic technical advisor.

Egan studied ceramics at Sheridan College, School of Craft and Design and is currently teaching in the ceramics program at Sheridan College. He is the recipient of many grants and awards including the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics (2003) and was an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre (1991-1994). His work is in numerous private collections and in the collections of the Gardiner Museum and Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, Waterloo.

“The tree of life, or sacred tree, is an enduring image used throughout history and across cultures to depict the interconnectedness of life. The tree is a symbol of growth, fertility, decay, death, and rebirth, it is a resource providing nourishment, shelter, medicine, and a metaphor for knowledge and immortality. My tile panel shows the many aspects of a tree’s life, celebrating the marvel and resilience of an organism that endures for centuries. Continuing in the tradition of architectural adornment, drawing on the history of decorative ceramic art, botanical illustration, and fantasy, I hope to evoke a sense of wonder and provide an occasion for discovery and reflection.”

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Kaley Flowers is a ceramic artist based in Northern Ontario, Canada.  Her intricate sculptures merge digital aesthetics with organic forms, exploring the emotional resonance of online phenomena such as GIFs and memes on contemporary culture.  Through the enduring nature of ceramics, Flowers aims to archive our rapidly evolving digital heritage and encourages viewers to reflect on the influence of technology in our lives. Flowers is a graduate of OCAD University and was an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre (2017-2020). Her work has been exhibited internationally and across Canada, including the Dunlop Gallery (Regina), Hashimoto Contemporary (San Francisco), The Hole (NYC) and The A+D Museum (Los Angeles).

“Everyday objects are adorned with intricate carvings, evoking a sense of technological circuitry and bio-mechanical patterning. Challenging traditional notions of decoration, their ceramic surfaces blend organic, soft aesthetics with a futuristic menace. A flocked teddy bear and diary critique the pervasive influence of big tech from a young age. With these intimate, personal items, I highlight the unsettling intrusion of corporate presence into our private lives. In a series of wall pieces, I explore the convergence of traditional ceramic practices and AI technology. Photographs of my sculptures are inputted into an AI model, generating new variations that I then physically create. Three mirrors are exhibited alongside their AI counterparts, showcasing the interplay between human intention and machine interpretation. By merging the handmade with the digital, my work questions the boundaries between human and machine. Through ornamentation, it invites viewers to consider the evolving role of artisanship in an increasingly automated world, while reflecting on the societal impacts of ubiquitous technology and surveillance.”

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Julie Moon is a Toronto-based ceramic artist.  She is a graduate from OCADU in Toronto and received her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 2010. Since completing her studies, Moon has exhibited widely across the US and Canada, including the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art, MASS Gallery in Austin, Texas, ART Toronto, The Philadelphia Art Fair, Society for Contemporary Craft, Birch Contemporary and Patel Brown in Toronto. She has been awarded grants from the Toronto Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.  She is currently an instructor at the Toronto School of Art and at OCADU.

“Heavy Bloom is a series of clay sculptures exploring notions of beauty and strength through larger-than-life flowers. These anthropomorphic forms are sturdy and expressive, challenging notions of fleeting and fragile feminine beauty.  Instead, these figurative flowers are a testament to endurance and strength, inviting viewers to reconsider and celebrate unexpected expressions of being.”

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Lindsay Montgomery is a Toronto-based artist working across a variety of media, including ceramics, painting and puppetry to create objects and performances. Her work is focused on creating mythologies that confront and re-imagine classical narratives to address a wide range of topics and issues, like death and mysticism, feminism and evolving modes of power. She earned a BFA from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and received her MFA from the University of Minnesota. She was an Artist-in-Residence at Harbourfront Centre (2006-2009).

“For Elaborate, I’m pleased to include a selection of works that represent the transitional point in my career where I find myself now. I’ve included the final pieces from my Neo Istoriato series, that explores re-imagining paintings and pottery from the renaissance and spinning them into dark tales of the present to put on display our slow spiritual evolution as a species. The vessels included are my largest to date and feel like the final manifestations of that exploration and research in the studio. I am also debuting a selection of figurines from my new series titled Despairware, which references books of demonology and iconographies of feral femininity with Staffordshire figurines from the 19^th century to tell much more personal narratives of my past and present relationship with the hinterland and its creatures, altered states of consciousness, and family histories and trauma.”

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