Bio

Alison Kraniske works in glass and ceramics to explore craft processes and sculptural assemblage as a framework for challenging the imposed values of American culture. Often working with the vessel and found objects, Kraniske is interested in domestic spaces and the impact of material interactions. She currently attends The Ohio State University where she is pursuing a BFA with a concentration in glass and a minor in mathematics. Kraniske has worked as a glassblowing assistant, classroom assistant, and installation technician.

Statement

My practice considers self-actualization amidst American disconnection through sculptural assemblage and the labor of glass and ceramic craft. The idea that the center can not hold resonates within me as a vivid chalk square on a blackboard with the residue of an erasure. Craft is my center, my foundation, and my fuel against the postmodern inability to contain a truth. Through building a relationship of respect, growth, and love with my mediums, I have found a truth tangible enough to hold in my hands. Making stands in opposition to systematically imposed complacency and the fallacy of meritocracy. The power of process has reshaped my personal value system while providing me with a framework to approach the interconnectivity of art and life.

I revere simple gestures of form as well as specificity of subject matter, both inspired by the manner of Imagist poets. Poetry writing is consistently part of my practice, with streams of consciousness or short stanzas being realized in titles. Intuition is central, finding itself on the page, glassblowing bench, and potter's wheel, but also in the selection and assemblage of found objects. I work with natural and domestic found objects such as leaves, sticks, wood, furniture, and light bulbs, often putting them in conversation with traditionally made vessels. I am invested in what we cling to, whether it is object, belief, or process. Pairing the precisely hand made with the intuitively hand picked creates a record of intimacy that challenges prescribed values. Fluid, unpredictable lines move in and out of rigid symmetry, processed and factory made products become one with their raw or crafted counterparts, and the functionality of familiar objects is subverted. Subtle connections between material and form reach towards the inexplicability of emptiness. The vessel, like the chalk square, stands as a container for something more than itself. It stands as opportunity, begging to hold, but never fully holding.