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My sculpture reflects my interest in the interaction of space and form, inside and outside, body and spirit, and the nexus of science, technology, and art. As a former dancer I am drawn to the nuance of gesture and the ability of the body to communicate through subtle changes of position. As a writer who reports on the results of contemporary scientific research I am fascinated by the endless complexity of relationships in the natural world. As a lover of mythology and the stories and art of indigenous people throughout the world I see a continuous process of — human, plant, animal — and elemental forces — earth, air, sky, and water.
My installations respond not only to their immediate physical environment, but also to the time and space in which we live. Increasingly I am drawn to use recycled and recyclable materials to point to the enourmous amount of needless consumption in our daily lives.
My process in clay is derived in part from the pottery traditions of the Hopi and Navaho people. I work primarily in terra cotta, because it is "the earth itself." I hand build the sculptural forms, coiling and smoothing in traditional ways, but guiding the walls in non-traditional directions. I finish the pieces with multiple washes of oil paint, building subtle layers of color as the pigment is absorbed into the body of the fired clay. Although my starting point is often a live model, I generally work with only a single body part or portion of the torso and allow the growing sculpture to transform, turning inward, changing direction, elongating, or contracting, to follow the inner logic of its own creation. My sitting figures grow from my own experience in meditation practice.
— Joan Schwartz
January 22, 2008