Great Demonstration, Using a Black Light, of How Washing Hands With Soap Kills Viruses

Everyone not living under a rock now knows that 20 seconds of handwashing is enough to kill virus particles. But Vox put together a fantastic demonstration, using a black light and some helpful explanations of how fat behaves in water, so that you can see and understand exactly what soap does:

If only the Coronavirus showed up under black lights….

Group B Series 2 Automatic Safari Watch

An extension of Autodromo’s successful, inspired Group B collection, the Series 2 Automatic Safari wristwatch incorporates semi-matte green plating that lends a shifting, iridescent finish in various verdant hues. The lightweight, 39mm timepiece features an integrated stainless steel bracelet and sapphire crystal and there’s a Miyota 9015 automatic movement within. This edition draws inspiration from East African Safari rallies and the Paris-Dakar rallies of the 1980s; whereas the entire Group B ranges nods to the rally car era of 1982 to 1986.

Meet the iPad Pro 2020 – Apple’s “new kind of laptop”

Apple’s finally launched the new iPad Pro and it’s pretty clear that the company’s vision is to make the tablet more than just a large-screened multimedia device. The 2020 iPad Pro bridges the gap between a tablet and a laptop. I’d argue it creates a new sort of device that helps creators be productive in new sorts of ways. The new iPad Pro comes with 2 camera lenses that capture wide and ultrawide shots as well as 4K video, and a LiDAR sensor to help bolster Apple’s efforts in Augmented Reality. They’re complemented by powerful studio microphones that allow you to shoot incredible professional videos on your iPad. Needless to say, even the most powerful MacBooks can’t do that yet!

That bridge between Tablet and Laptop comes with the iPad’s use of a Liquid Retina screen that’s arguably the best in the tablet industry in terms of color representation. The screen comes with a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth interaction, giving you an experience comparable to the iMac but in a portable format. It finally makes sense now, that the iPad Pro has a version of Photoshop that rivals its desktop application.

The most interesting addition, however, to the iPad Pro 2020 is its Magic Keyboard case that features a floating design that lets you dock or angle your tablet in any way, and a keyboard with a built-in multi-touch trackpad that lets you alternate between a laptop mode with a cursor, and a professional tablet mode with Apple’s Pencil.

The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at $799 (US) for the Wi-Fi model while the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $999. That glorious magic-keyboard will cost you an extra $299 a pop.

Designer: Apple

Graphic designers get creative to circulate helpful advice during coronavirus outbreak

Graphic designers get creative to show support during Covid-19 outbreak

Artists and designers have grabbed their pens, pencils and digital styluses to create images of support and informative illustrations to help distribute advice on how to slow the spread of coronavirus.

As the virus continues to spread, creatives have used their online platforms to urge people to make the necessary life changes in order to minimise the chances of catching or spreading coronavirus Covid-19.

At the time of publication, infected people have been detected in at least 143 countries, according to the New York Times. There are currently more than 194,000 people with the virus, and at least 7,000 people have died.

“We artists can help by creating something useful that can make a difference”

While hand-washing has been identified as one of the key ways people can avoid spreading Covid-19, other actions people can take include social distancing to minimise contact with others, and self-isolating if you develop symptoms.

“Even though we are not doctors or nurses, besides staying at home in self quarantine, we artists can help by creating something useful that can make a difference,” artist Juan Delcan told Dezeen.

“We need to make people understand that staying home can save many people’s lives,” he continued. “Through powerful and telegraphic images we can convey the sense of being responsible in a global crisis.”

Its “about changing our mindset”

Graphic designers and illustrators have created powerful images and animations to try and spread the message, including visual representations of symptoms and comic representations of self-quarantine.

“The best advice I read about #corona today was about changing our mindset: instead of trying not to get infected, we should assume we ARE infected and do everything so we don’t transmit it to somebody else,” wrote Graphic designer Christoph Niemann in an Instagram post.

“Stay safe and when you need to be out, try to have a kind word for all the people who are working under a huge amount of pressure (nurses, bus drivers, police officers, supermarket cashiers),” he added.

Here are 10 examples of creatives using their talents to circulate helpful advice:


 

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A post shared by Mona Chalabi (@monachalabi) on Mar 13, 2020 at 10:09am PDT

Mona Chalabi

British data journalist Mona Chalabi has published a series of sketchy illustrations on her Instagram page sharing advice on social distancing, self-isolation and not stockpiling supplies.

This includes a graphic outlining some of the symptoms of coronavirus, from the more common signs of a fever and dry cough to those less ordinary of muscle pain and vomiting.


Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre

Director and artist Juan Delcan and Valentina Izaguirre visualised the positive impact of social distancing in an animation of matchsticks catching fire. Stood next to each other in a row, the first alight matchstick sets the next one on fire, and so on.

The duo anthropomorphised one of the matchsticks, giving it legs to allow it to step out of the line to prevent the rest of the matches setting on fire – representing the importance of staying at home to avoid the virus spreading.


 

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A post shared by Sara Andreasson (@saraandreasson) on Mar 16, 2020 at 4:59am PDT

Sara Andreasson

Swedish illustrator Sara Andreasson continued the lit-matchstick analogy in a bid to encourage people to stay home. Her graphic design features a broken line of matchsticks, half burnt out and the other half kept unlit with the words “break the chain” written beneath.

“We all need to make an effort to help protect the more vulnerable people in our communities and try and break the chain of infection,” the caption reads.

“I’m hopeful that when all this is over, we will have learned something valuable about working together as a community.”


 

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A post shared by Christoph Niemann (@abstractsunday) on Mar 15, 2020 at 4:55am PDT

Christoph Niemann

Graphic designer Christoph Niemann used his typically ironic and playful illustrative style to get a message across to his Instagram followers to wash their hands and stay at home.

This comprised a simple yet effective image of a girl, with the red pencil used to draw her positioned strategically above her hand like a megaphone, with the girl’s open mouth shouting down the pencil tip.


 

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A post shared by Jean Jullien (@jean_jullien) on Mar 17, 2020 at 8:51am PDT

Jean Jullien

French illustrator Jean Jullien applied his characteristically tongue-in-cheek approach to bring some light humour to the current crisis via Instagram.

His drawing asks viewers to spot the difference between two images of a man lying on a sofa “before quarantine” and “during quarantine”, surrounded by his laptop, tissues and clothes.


 

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A post shared by Petra Eriksson Illustrator (@petraerikssonstudio) on Mar 15, 2020 at 6:24am PDT

Petra Eriksson

Spanish artist Petra Eriksson aims to shine a light on the positives in getting some more time to yourself during quarantine and self-isolation, as represented in her Silencio illustration.

“One good thing with spending so much time at home by yourself is that you really get the chance to set into a slow and more simple way of living, giving your head some extra peace and quiet so that you can dig a little bit deeper into certain things going on inside you,” reads the caption.

“Even though I miss having more face-to-face social interaction it’s interesting to see what happens when you completely need to let go of most of the things you would normally do.”


 

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A post shared by Sara Shakeel (@sarashakeel) on Mar 4, 2020 at 3:14am PST

Sara Shakeel

Artist Sara Shakeel aimed to bring a more positive outlook to our hygiene habits, encouraging people to wash their hands more by turning water and soap into crystals in this series of glittery collages.

“I am truly happy to see how a simple piece of art can bring such a positive impact on people’s lives, especially in these tough times,” she wrote. “As an artist it fulfils my purpose and the very reason why I create art!”


 

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A post shared by Oliver Jeffers (@oliverjeffers) on Mar 14, 2020 at 9:48am PDT

Oliver Jeffers

Brooklyn-based visual artist and author Oliver Jeffers stressed the importance of helping each other during the Covid-19 pandemic. In his illustration, the globe wears a surgical mask as it floats above the words “now more than ever think ‘we’ not ‘me'”.

“This virus doesn’t care about your passport or your bank balance,” he captioned the post. “It can affect any of us. But hopefully not all of us if we act in unison to defeat it. Be safe. Be sensible. Be sensitive. One in, all in.”


Toby Morris and Siouxsie Wiles

New Zealand-based cartoonist teamed up with microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles to create a series of illustrations advising people on how to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus and “flatten the curve” to ease the strain on health workers.

This includes an animation showing alternatives to handshakes, hugs and high fives when greeting people amid the Covid-19 outbreak – from a wave or a “namaste” gesture to using sign language or “the ‘all good’ nod”.


 

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A post shared by Gemma Correll (@gemmacorrell) on Mar 16, 2020 at 12:02pm PDT

Gemma Correll

British illustrator Gemma Correll created “coronavirus reward stickers” to digitally praise her social media followers for things like washing their hands, not hoarding toilet paper, checking in with loved ones and maintaining social distancing.

The hand-drawn stickers feature friendly faces and bright colours, in the artist’s signature cartoonish style that has also seen her post comical drawings of self-isolation posed as “Couchella” instead of Coachella – the California music festival that was postponed in light of the epidemic.

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New Stone Age exhibition demonstrates material's "potential to revolutionise construction"

New Stone Age exhibition

New Stone Age at London‘s Building Centre shows the potential of stone as a modern construction material. Curator Steve Webb picks five projects from the exhibition that use it in innovative, practical and sustainable ways.

The exhibition demonstrates how stone can be used as a structural material to create contemporary buildings.

“We want to show people that modern methods of fabrication and design can unlock the huge potential of one of our most abundant natural resources,” Webb told Dezeen.

“This exhibition sheds light on a number of recent international projects from around the world in an attempt to show that there is a nascent if disparate movement towards stone and postulates what a dawning new Stone Age might bring.”

“Stone is beautiful, strong and abundant,” he continued. “Its extraction does’t require huge amounts of energy, while modern improvements in design and analysis techniques mean that it can be used in ways not thought possible before; playing a major role in building structures.”

“We are advocating its use as structure”

Structural engineer Webb, who co-founded Webb Yates, curated the exhibition alongside architect Amin Taha, founder of studio Groupwork, and Pierre Bidaud from The Stonemasonry Company.

The three previous worked together to build 15 Clerkenwell Close, a six-storey housing block in London that has a stone structure. The exhibition aims to widen the discussion about stone as a structural alternative to concrete and steel.

“We are advocating its use as structure and inherent in that is the reductive idea that buildings could be elegant structures built with noble materials, not ugly structures covered in plastic-coated decoration,” explained Webb.

Alongside historic and modern uses of stone, the exhibition includes a theoretical design of a 30-storey skyscraper with a stone structure.

The project is an example of using stone can be used to create more sustainable commercial buildings. The curators calculate that the building would have approximately a 60 per cent reduction in embed carbon compared to a steel frame structure, and around an 80 per cent reduction compared to concrete.

“This has the potential to revolutionise construction”

“Steel and concrete are quarried materials themselves that require huge amounts of energy in their production, whereas stone is just sitting there in the ground ready to use,” explained Webb.

“Average stones are much stronger than even high-strength concretes, are more durable than many other materials,” he continued.

“Although timber is a great way of cutting carbon and can replace many concrete and steel elements, in certain applications such as high rise or underground infrastructure, its use is impractical and stone would be better.”

The exhibition also includes an example of a floor slab made from stone that would be much more sustainable than a concrete equivalent.

“The reciprocating stone floor is a thin, un-reinforced stone slabs doing the job of concrete in half the depth and 10 per cent of the carbon,” said Webb. “We’ve never seen this anywhere else!”

“This has the potential to revolutionise construction,” he added. “Imagine getting rid of the paraphernalia of concrete construction and replacing it with a standard reusable stone slab, like a paving slab.”

Below are five contemporary projects that use stone in interesting ways:


New Stone Age exhibition: St Mary of the Resurrection Abbey in Abu Ghosh by AAU Anastas

Crusaders monastery gift shop, Jerusalem, by AAU Anastas, 2018

The roof that Crusaders monastery Bethlehem-based architecture studio AAU Anastas created at this gift shop demonstrates the potential of stone to be used to create flat structures.

“This is a really elegant roof,” said Webb. “Arch and shell structures are perfect for stone and perfect for statics, but they are of limited use in real buildings, developing flat floor ideas unlocks a lot of possibilities.”


New Stone Age exhibition: Social housing with solid stone walls by Perraudin Architecture

Logements Collectifs, Plan-les- Ouates, Switzerland, by Atelier Architecture Perraudin, 2013

The Logements Collectifs social housing complex near Toulouse was built with load-bearing stone walls, which were left bare to show traces of the quarrying process.

“Yes! Simple, logical,” said Webb. “Less a statement more a staple.”


New Stone Age exhibition

Delas Frères Winery Tain l’Hermitage, France, by Carl Fredrik Svenstedt Architect, 2019

Carl Fredrik Svenstedt Architect used CNC techniques to create the walls at this winery in France to give the stone an unusual form.

“The winery, shows the possibilities of combining stone with CNC techniques to produce fluid forms that we don’t normally associate with stone,” explains Webb.


New Stone Age exhibition

Municipal Halls, Lamure-Sur-Azergues, France, by Elisabeth Polzella, 2017

Elisabeth Polzella’s public hall in the of town Lamure-Sur-Azergues combines stone supports with a timber roof.

“Stone and timber is a great combination,” said Webb. “At Webb Yates Engineers, we are investigating a number of stone and timber hybrid typologies and we think this is a really interesting area.

“Vertical stone in compression timber, lighter spanning on top.”


New Stone Age exhibition: 15 Clerkenwell Close by Amin Taha + Groupwork

15 Clerkenwell Close by Amin Taha + Groupwork, London, UK, 2018

The six-storey block at 15 Clerkenwell Close has a structural stone exoskeleton, meaning that the material is immediately visible.

“All of our collaborations with Amin involve some kind of technological adventure and this is no different,” said Webb.

“Stone columns support concrete slabs. I’ve been very interested to see how people respond to the fact of the stone facade being structural.”

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Qieer Wang’s fluid illustrations and animations are full of energy

With an impressive list of clients in her portfolio, including Adult Swim, The New Yorker, and Spotify, Chinese artist and illustrator Qieer Wang stands out for her stretchy, fluid characters that move in bright, clashing colour palettes. 

Creating a range of looping gifs, animations and editorial illustrations, Wang grew up in a world full of art and expression. “My uncle and mom were both fine artists for a while, although neither of them chose to pursue art as a serious career,” say Wang. “I grew up reading comics, watching cartoons and anime like a lot of my peers.”

It wasn’t until her sophomore year of her Game Illustration undergrad degree in Chengdu that Wang started to experiment drawing with markers, coloured pencils and pastels in her diary. “These few years provided me with the most important knowledge and aesthetics. A year after my undergrad, I decided to quit my job and move to the US to pursue grad school in illustration,” explains Wang. “During these two years I had the chance to attend an animation workshop and started to make shorts right afterwards. I learnt puppet animation and built up my digital animation skills from there.” 

NPR Podcast

The creative now calls New York her home and it’s the dynamism and appreciation of the arts there that made her stay. “What impresses me most [about New York] is people’s perception of art in this city,” she says. “It’s a supportive and nourishing crowd, which is ideal for an individual artist to be in.” 

Both Wang’s personal and commissioned work is typically flowing, vivid and often improvised. “I’m inspired by and rely on my visual memories very much,” she says. “It’s not always possible to relate it to reality, but if it resonates well with the emotion I’m aiming to draw out, that’s the perfect kind of expression to me.” 

Citing Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Allison Schulnik as references, Wang’s work carries a surrealist edge to it, which gives her editorial work a freshness. 

When working on a commercial or editorial project, the illustrator often takes it back to basics by writing and sketching out ideas before discussing the direction with the client. “Most of the commercial work I do is digitally oriented, so I find a good balance by drawing on paper,” explains Wang. 

The New Yorker
Elemental, Medium

With her personal projects, there’s a sense of freedom Wang can’t help but come back to, however she acknowledges how both have shaped her practice. “The commercial work has provided me with valuable perspectives from my clients, that in turn have helped me build up a solid artistic voice, which I’m always grateful for,” she says. 

Combining illustration and animation (sometimes in the same project) allows Wang to express feelings and narrate stories in a deeper, more personal way. “I enjoy capturing moments that carry the most energy through illustration,” she says. “But I also love playing around with time and movement when making gifs. Short animated films have a very personal touch that I’m in love with.” 

Rather than focusing on what she’s creating, Wang is more driven by who she’s working with and how she’s able to work. “For commercial projects, I love working with a disciplined team or individuals because the process can be very joyful when we all know what we’re looking for,” she explains. “I tend to propose one experimental solution in almost every project because I prefer to have the option of the unknown.” 

As such, her advice for someone starting out in illustration and animation is simple: “Be brave with experiences, and then narrow it down to what your true passion is.” 

Modern Weekly

qieerwang.com

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Sabine Zetteler on helping colleagues and clients in a crisis

This week we’re speaking with creatives to find out how they’re coping with the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. Here, Sabine Zetteler, founder of creative PR agency Zetteler, talks to CR about supporting a team and being useful to clients in uncertain times

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"Instagram-ready" Dubai Creek Footbridge to be built beside world's tallest structure

Dubai Creek Footbridge by IJP Architects and AKT II in Dubai, UAE

IJP Architects and structural engineer AKT II have unveiled visuals for a two-storey bridge that will be built beside Santiago Calatrava’s Dubai Creek Tower in the UAE.

Named Dubai Creek Footbridge, it has been designed by IJP Architects and AKT II with a 145-metre-span over the man-made canal in Dubai Creek Harbour.

It will be composed of a decorative web of steel that evokes traditional Islamic geometric patterns, to create a throughway and “Instagram-ready” viewpoint to the world’s tallest structure.

The intention is for it to be as slender and light as possible, complementing the form of the Dubai Creek Tower rather than distracting from it.

Dubai Creek Footbridge by IJP Architects and AKT II in Dubai, UAE

“Santiago Calatrava’s Dubai Creek Tower, itself a stayed pylon, needed no competition,” said George Legendre and Tim Fu of IJP Architects.

“A lightweight arched truss offered the simplest urban massing, for the maximum opportunity to impress,” the pair told Dezeen.

“The bridge is entirely designed around the gradual discovery of its towering neighbour. The emergence of the public stair onto the upper deck is designed like a camera aperture framing its subject – ‘Instagram-ready’.”

Dubai Creek Footbridge by IJP Architects and AKT II in Dubai, UAE

Once complete, the two-storey Dubai Creek Footbridge will provide visitors with views of the surrounding city and also Dubai Creek Tower on both levels.

Its lower level is intended for pedestrians and provides shade from the sun, while the upper deck will be primarily used as a route for golf carts and cyclists.

The bridge will have a truss arch structure, composed of a web of high-strength steel. A truss arch is a type of structure in which all its horizontal forces are contained within the arch itself.

This was engineered to minimise the size of all its exposed structural members as far as possible, and ensure that the bridge has a slender aesthetic.

“A lightweight arched truss offered the simplest urban massing, for the maximum opportunity to impress,” explained Legendre and Fu.

“To achieve the slenderness the bridge required we couldn’t use traditional mild steel,” added AKT II’s Paul Hutter.

“Therefore we based our competition design on high strength steels. This solution dramatically reduced the steel tonnage, produced a more efficient design and reduced the member sizes so they could be as slender as possible.”

Dubai Creek Footbridge by IJP Architects and AKT II in Dubai, UAE

Elements of this structure have also been developed to help enhance the star-shaped pattern across its deck that references traditional mashrabiyas –  a type of carved latticework screen – and ornamented vaulted ceilings called muqarnas found in Islamic architecture.

According to Legendre and Fu, this combination of traditional architecture and a contemporary steel structure marries the modernity and tradition of found in Dubai today – “expressing the continuity between the cultural past and present”.

IJP Architects and AKT II’s design was a winning entry to a competition for the bridge held by UAE Real estate company Emaar. Apart from basic requirements and a site plan, no other background information was made available to those submitting for the competition.

Spanish architect Calatrava’s Dubai Creek Tower is expected to surpass the 828-metre-high Burj Khalifa. It will feature rotating balconies, vertiginous observation decks and elevated gardens.

According to the team, the structure’s curved profile is modelled on the lily flower and the minarets that are typical of traditional Islamic architecture.

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London's Design Museum closed indefinitely to help stem spread of coronavirus

London's Design Museum closes indefinitely to stem spread of coronavirus

The Design Museum is closing its doors today, following British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s official advice that citizens should avoid all public gatherings and non-essential travel in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

As the UK death toll rose to 71 on Tuesday, the museum announced that until further notice, no visitors will be allowed into the museum’s John Pawson-designed home on Kensington High Street.

Exhibitions that were set to open in April and May will be postponed. This includes Electronic – an exploration of how electronic music has been shaped by design and technology – as well as Sneakers Unboxed, which was set to bring a range of cult and limited edition trainers before the eyes of collectors.

“The whole cultural sector is responding to a rapidly developing situation, trying to implement measures that safeguard the well-being of all staff and visitors,” explained Tim Marlow, the museum’s chief executive and director, who took up his post in October of last year.

“No-one doubts the severity of what we will face in the weeks ahead but it’s clear that museums in general, and one devoted to design in particular, will have a significant role to play in the future and in spite of the need to close our landmark building temporarily, the work of the Design Museum will continue.”

This comes after a record 229,360 visitors flocked to the museum’s paid programme in the last financial year.

A slew of other British museums and galleries have also opted to close their doors, including London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, the Hayward and Serpentine galleries and the Barbican.  All four Tate galleries – including the Tate Modern, Britain, St Ives and Liverpool  – have also closed.

In the US, the Met, MoMA and Guggenheim, as well as the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum and a number of smaller galleries have closed their doors as the virus continues to spread across the country.

Other European countries including Italy, Spain, France and Germany have chosen to ban mass gatherings, as the continent has become the new epicentre of the pandemic. 

However, the UK government has stopped short of forcing the closure of public spaces, leaving it to individual businesses to take matters into their own hands.

The Museums Association has warned that this would prevent cultural organisations from being covered by their product insurance, delivering a “fatal blow” to the sector financially.

“Museums are a vital part of the UK economy and a major employer, as well as being vitally important cultural and scientific institutions which are crucial hubs for their communities,” the association said in a statement.

“Museums also support a high proportion of freelance workers in addition to staff. In the current circumstances, the sector and its workers face an uncertain future.”

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Studio Visit: Ceramicist Jen Dwyer

Rococo decadence from the artist on the ground floor at the Wassaic Project

In a former corner office on the 10th floor of 625 Madison Avenue, artist Jen Dwyer and curator Lauren Hirshfield transported guests of this year’s SPRING/BREAK Art Show into a decadent Rococo dreamland. The installation, appropriately entitled “Dreamer’s Delight” supported dozen of Dwyer’s ceramic art pieces: anthropomorphic teapots, tarot cards and curling fingers, among them. Less than a week after the art fair closed, we wound our way two hours north of NYC to the town of Wassaic. There, one of the most adventurous and engaging art experiences upstate, the Wassaic Project, houses Dwyer’s studio.

After she graduated from the University of Notre Dame with an MFA at the end of May, Dwyer began to apply for residencies. “I was accepted to this one shortly after the summer and I almost didn’t come,” she tells us, sat beside a sketchpad she’d been working in moments before. “I thought I needed to set up life in the Bay Area [where she’s from] but a good friend told me that I needed to come. That it was the best residency she’s ever done. I got here and I fell in love.” Dwyer transitioned that residency into a fellowship. With 13 years of experience working with ceramics under her belt, she now guides Wassaic Project’s program and helps residents if they want to get into clay.

On the wall of her studio, on the ground level of Wassaic Project, Dwyer’s composed a mood board of her own story, which features everything from Old Masters paintings to Beauty and the Beast references. “I grew up loving clay,” she says. “It’s a very tactile medium and it’s a soothing process as well.” Dwyer began to inform that love with discoveries ranging from the texture and the emotion of photographer Alex Prager’s work to academic research on the history of porcelain—specifically the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe where “it was like a fetish almost, and porcelain was considered white gold. I’m interested in this idea of obsession.”

Her latest works incorporate her interest in gender studies, feminist literature and the idea of rewriting fairytales. “The age-old tropes found in fairytales can perpetuate a patriarchal structure but, if the author is changed, you can use it in a subvert message and rewrite the narrative. That’s where my practice is now.” It’s no small feat translating these ideas into ceramic sculptures but Dwyer approaches an entire body of work with the ideas she intends to infuse, then using each piece as a component of the greater concept.

“It’s such a process-heavy medium,” she continues. “Most of my work is fired at least five times. I will build the piece, then put an under-glaze coat on it. I’ll bisque fire it. Then, I will put a glaze coat on it. I will then glaze fire it. I will usually glaze fire it again. Then I will put a luster coat on it and fire that.” All of these steps lead to her magnificent texture and tones.

“I think that’s another thing I love about clay,” Dwyer says. “I sculpt forms. I throw forms. I slip-cast some forms. Then I’ll dip lace into liquid clay, slip, then I’ll put it on the piece and it burns out. The possibilities are endless.” These variations are visible in her studio, where works lay across shelves, desks and tables. Even more work hangs on the wall. Dwyer surrounds herself with carefully arranged work. Part of her studio is reminiscent of the tea party installation from SPRING/BREAK, too—with shimmering pastels placed about.

Dwyer didn’t only conceive the pieces for “Dreamer’s Delight,” she also envisioned the concept. “I drew up a sketch and drafted a proposal and made a pin-board and sent it to Lauren Hirschfield and she was on board. The whole installation, putting it all together, was really collaborative. I never thought we’d actually nail my idea but it came out exactly as I wanted: I wanted people to walk into this alternative utopian fantasy and feel at ease.” She achieved that; the results dripping in decadence.

In back of the Wassaic Project, Dwyer makes use of the kiln shed. As she guides us through the facility, she emphasizes the importance of ceramics as an art form today. “It’s really an exciting time where boundaries are being fused,” she says. “Fine art, design, and craft, these hierarchies are all blurring together.” Her work is the perfect example. When Dwyer’s fellowship ends in May, she’ll pursue studio space in Brooklyn, where she hopes to acquire her own kiln.

Images by David Graver