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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
at Phoenix College. She is currently represented by Gebert Contemporary in Scottsdale and had a show there earlier this year. Following a ceramics residency at the Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana this past January, Sannit started working with a new cylindrical form in her sculpture. She was also visiting artist at the Archie Bray Foundation, also in Montana, the previous year. Eventually the forms became a sort of elongated balloon-shaped head, she says. Sannit has been making dozens of them. These will very likely populate her solo show at the Phoenix Art Museum next summer, along with other more ambitious works. She says she beats them up and then puts them back together again. “They were all damaged. All the heads had holes in them, or they were ripped up,” she says. “And then I tried to repair them with little girders and screws.” She was inspired by recent images from Damascus, Syria, and has been thinking a lot about human destruction, but also human resilience. All of the clay Sannit works with is reclaimed from schools and community centers. She gets intrigued by what she finds in the used clay. Often half-dried buckets tell their own small stories of life and the other artists who have touched it. In the last year, Sannit’s art life has really picked up pace, starting with her big show at Gebert, then a show with her friend and art collaborator Chris Jagmin currently at Mesa Arts Center. Recently, Phoenix Art Museum alerted Sannit that she has been selected as the Contemporary Forum Arlene and Morton Scult Mid-Career Artist and grant recipient. Sannit was recently commissioned to make two large sculptural pieces for the new Marriott AC Hotel on Tempe Town Lake. These were a bit different from her usual work, but a good experience, she says. “I got these gigantic commissions,” she says. “And when you get commissions, you have to actually do the work!” Sannit often makes her sculptural installation art an interactive experience. For example, at Artel over a year ago she installed different-sized ceramic cylinders and wheels. Throughout the weekend Sannit rearranged many of the pieces, almost like Tinker Toys or Legos. At a recent show at Gebert, she created a large wet clay floor for guests to walk on. Sannit hints that she is planning something interactive for her show at Phoenix Art Museum. She says the scale of the installation will be daunting. Journey and Memory: Past the Rock, the Sun’s Gates and the Land of Dreams Painting by Christopher Jagmin and sculpture by Patricia Sannit Through August 7 Mesa Arts Center mesaartscenter.com patriciasannit.com JAVA 19 MAGAZINE
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Page 4: CONTENTS 8 12 22 32 FEATURES 8 12 2
Page 7 and 8: BUZZ SUMMER BREAK By Robert Sentine
Page 9 and 10: danieltookerphoto.com Various strai
Page 11 and 12: COMING SOON TO THE MIM MUSIC THEATE
Page 13 and 14: Portraits by Johnny Jaffe In a city
Page 15 and 16: How do your new ideas and designs c
Page 17: JUSTIN QUEAL Artistic Synergy By De
Page 21 and 22: JACOB CUTINO FROM HOMEBOY’S HOT S
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Page 29 and 30: Art Direction : Jen Deveroux Design
Page 31 and 32: I’m not sure there has been more
Page 33 and 34: ANDY WARPIGS GEEK ROCK! To the Nati
Page 35 and 36: A new entrepreneurial spirit is tak
Page 37 and 38: ART EVERYWHERE About Face From the
Page 39 and 40: The looker is usually a small child
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Java.July.2016

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