Letter to our Community : Connections

Jessica Zeng, Soap for the Soul, 2020 for Clay Art Center’s Connections Digital Exhibition

May 30, 2020

In my first year working at  Clay Art Center, I am so proud to be  working for an organization that has a strong community and proud of the virtual programming we are offering especially our Connections Online Exhibition.

The Connections Exhibition seeks to crystallize our Covid-19 experiences in the ceramics community and beyond. Our mournings, anxieties, and positive thoughts together transcend our individual views, a liberating experience while we have been cooped up at home.

Connections for me, is a platform to become not just a practicing artist, but also a real human experiencing this pandemic, outside of my home. Sharing a part of myself through my submission, especially my thoughts on racially motivated hate crimes since the pandemic struck, has been transformative for me in the way it allowed me to reflect on: what can I do as an artist? A ceramicist? A Chinese-American? A human? I'm grateful I got the chance to present my thoughts on a Covid-19 trending hashtag, #washthehate, and transform it to #washyourfear. 

My submission features a drawing of a wall-mounted soap holder, to be made into ceramics. In the background, the tiles separated by #washyourfear, repeat. There is no soap bar in the picture because it is already in your hands.

I hope that every time we wash our hands we can take a moment to breathe for ourselves, that it becomes a purification ritual, and that our fears wash away. We will be alright.

At the end of this all, what may be melancholy, yet the most heartening and necessary, is solid proof of what exactly we as a whole went through during this time of coronavirus, and now, this time of great social unrest in America. Art in process is always a means to start rehabilitation. Connections has jump-started a recovery I didn't know that I needed. 

Please join me in submitting your story to Connections through July 15th!

Best regards,

Jessica Zeng
Program and Sales Assistant

*Originally posted May 30, 2020 in our weekly email newsletter.