Java.July.2016

PATRICIA SANNIT
Works in Clay
By Jenna Duncan
Scribes and historians often look to the past to
decode the secrets of humanity. In the epic poem
Trilogy, by H.D., the poet transports readers to the
site of Pompeii to have a look at what was left of
those ancient people, trapped in time during the
mundane activities of life.
Sculptor Patricia Sannit has always been interested
in history, culture and the lives of different people
around the world. She’s interested in intersections, the
ways in which people of any era and in any place are
alike. “When you’re young you don’t always know what
is going to have the most impact on you,” she says. For
Sannit’s life and the aesthetic direction of her art, it was
time spent in the Middle East—Jordan, Israel and
Turkey—that made all the difference.
In Israel and Jordan, she kept noticing the same little
marks on objects and architecture. These markings
would follow her around and show up in her dreams.
She began to make connections between what she
was doing with her work in the late 20th century and
what had come before.
She was helping a team excavate a site where they
had found many small ceramic human figures. A
particular memory of that time stands out—a story
Sannit has frequently told about the experience.
She was sweeping the floor of what her excavation
team had identified as a home. The floor was plaster
and was painted with small iron oxide markings—
beautiful and memorable. While she worked, she
thought to herself, perhaps a woman 5,000 years ago
was sweeping this same floor. Shortly thereafter, she
uncovered the burial site of an infant under that floor.
“I just felt that chain—as if we were connected,” she
says. “It’s that cycle: first we build things, then we
destroy things. We get hungry. We take care of our
kids. I bring that elemental quality to my work. I think
of this as a universal language.”
Sannit grew up in Cleveland, one of two children
who were adopted by her parents. In high school,
she was an exchange student in Norway. She took a
long time to complete her undergraduate degree, she
says, because she moved around. In between years
of study, she studied art in Norway again and spent
some time working as a potter.
Sannit earned her bachelor’s degree in ceramics
at the University of Minnesota. She also attended
Carleton and the University of Minnesota. She did a
year in Norway and earned a degree in art. She was
awarded a Master of Fine Arts degree from California
College of the Arts. In graduate school, she focused
on sculpture. At that time, she showed her work at
Catherine Clark Gallery in San Francisco.
She moved to Phoenix with her family when her
son was six months old. Her husband had been
offered a job at ASU leading the Institute of Human
Origins. Following the birth of her son, Sannit says
that her studio time changed considerably. Instead
of doing big, serious sculptural works all the time,
she went back to making smaller vessels for a while.
“Sculpture is daunting for me,” she says. “Physically,
it’s big. Emotionally, it’s really challenging. I work
really hard at it in a deep way.”
Sannit works with clay full time out of a studio at her
home in north Phoenix. She also teaches ceramics
18 JAVA
MAGAZINE