Los Angeles-born artist Johanna Flores’ art practice unearths identity, spirituality and ancestry through her abstract sculptures. For Flores, who is a first generation Mexican-American artist, the particular act of working with clay connects her to her familial history eliciting a harmonious response to her ceramic-making artistry. Fluidity and sublimity coexist effortlessly and are at the center of Flores’ full-formed ceramic sculptures. A distinct visual language is present where ceramics occupy space between imaginative forms and playful abstract movements.
The visionary ceramicist invites us into her studio practice to discover more on her shapeshifting ceramic work.
About the Artist
Johanna is a first generation artist of Mexican descent, currently based in Decatur, Georgia.
Her abstract voluptuous sculptures convey the expansive state of imagination and explore themes of creation, spirituality, and existence. Her works have been exhibited at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in California and at the Museum of Contemporary Art GA in Atlanta.
Johanna holds a BFA from Parsons with a concentration in Product Design and Ceramics. Her studies merged Art and Design history and theory whilst exploring materials, fabrication, and aesthetics.
In her latest work: MULTIDIMENSIONAL, Johanna explores the complexity and the different facets of the self: such as the outer, the inner, the shadow and the collective self, including the physical and the spiritual self. Although we don’t see these parts, they belong to us nevertheless. The sculptures are smooth and voluptuous forms that resemble stylized seeds.
Johanna Flores in her studio
“All sculptures are handbuilt with porcelain and all glazes are developed by me, which means there's a lot of testing involved. Also sometimes the pieces have to be fired 3 or 4 times to be able to achieve the right fluidity and texture, which means that some pieces don’t make it because they cannot take all the distress of the heat.”
— Johanna Flores on her ceramic-making process
Artist Statement
Making ceramics makes me feel connected to the Earth, connected to my ancestors, to indigenous ancient people, also through my spiritual practice, I have come to understand that imagination is our direct connection to other realms of consciousness, a link to the cosmos.
The process of making ceramics is in many ways a ceremonial act for me, through clay I connect to the Earth, through my hands I connect to my ancestors, and through my imagination I connect to the cosmos.
As I touch the clay, I discover what it would like to become, my mind becomes empty, in this stillness I welcome that which wants to come through my vessel. In this numinous space, there is peace, there is expansion and elation, all happening simultaneously.
Selected Work
Images, bio, + artist statement are courtesy of the artist.