Keri Straka
Studio 6
Keri Straka
Originally coming from Washington state’s watery world of Puget sound, Keri has always been interested in the connection between fluids of the body and fluids of the earth. Secretive spaces always beckon. The echo of lived experience emanating from materials both intrigue and inform her sensibilities.
Tidepools nestled into eroded sandstone rock along Bellingham Bay provided endless hours of curiosity and fascination for Keri which developed into the ability to sit quietly and observe the small micro dramas of the aquatic by asking questions: Will the anemone open back up again? Will the worms in the sand resurface? What if a body is aligned in a specific way along the rocks to suggest landscape as flesh and flesh as landscape? Will the heartbeats in the backs of human heels begin to keep time with the rhythm of the Earth? Keri employs a lifelong passion for quiet witnessing of how internal spaces “speak” through the language of subtle activity.
Keri has been devoted to craft-based materials such as clay and fabric for their history of domestic purpose, ritual, and their ability to transcend utility. Having completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Western Washington University, she moved to Boston to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Massachusetts College of Art in 2003. She is mid-career and active in the studio as a sculptor employing both hard and soft materials such as stoneware, porcelain, velvet, and nylon.
Tidepools nestled into eroded sandstone rock along Bellingham Bay provided endless hours of curiosity and fascination for Keri which developed into the ability to sit quietly and observe the small micro dramas of the aquatic by asking questions: Will the anemone open back up again? Will the worms in the sand resurface? What if a body is aligned in a specific way along the rocks to suggest landscape as flesh and flesh as landscape? Will the heartbeats in the backs of human heels begin to keep time with the rhythm of the Earth? Keri employs a lifelong passion for quiet witnessing of how internal spaces “speak” through the language of subtle activity.
Keri has been devoted to craft-based materials such as clay and fabric for their history of domestic purpose, ritual, and their ability to transcend utility. Having completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Western Washington University, she moved to Boston to earn a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics at Massachusetts College of Art in 2003. She is mid-career and active in the studio as a sculptor employing both hard and soft materials such as stoneware, porcelain, velvet, and nylon.
Email: keristrakastudios@gmail.com
Phone: 617-510-0949
Photography creditsgo to Will Howcroft