My sculptural work, regardless of the material, expresses my truth as an African American woman. I build connections with nature, people, and the spiritual world through the use of texture, abstract forms, and cultural patterns. While creating figurative language and poetry are essential to my design process just as an author uses illustration. Each sculpture has a unique poem that they are identified as other than a title or name. I incorporate many raw materials such as hair, leaves, and saw dust to personify the 3-dimentinal work. The majority of my work is made from earthenware and stoneware clay where I utilize many different approaches and tools when building surface texture whether it's carving, scratching, or smoothing out the surfaces to emphasis body features or to be symbolic to certain characteristics of the sculpture.
Lily Stennis-Vinson