Being a ceramic artist, University of Texas Permian Basin senior Emily Daw has a lot on her pottery wheel these days.
She was getting ready for her senior show, “Great Expectations” at the CEED Building and a national show, at the Clay Center of New Orleans called Small Scale Sculpture.
Small Scale Sculpture will be on display from March 8 to April 5, 2024, the Clay Center’s website said.
She added that the pieces looked nothing like she’d done before. She created an 11-inch sculpture of a woman rabbit and two inch or inch-and-a-half tall rabbits at her feet.
Associate Professor of Art Chris Stanley gave her the idea to enter the small scale show.
She thought the rabbits would fit the small-scale sculpture theme and it was accepted, which she finds ironic given all the time and thought she’s put into other pieces. But being chosen for the New Orleans show was humbling.
Her sculptures stem from what’s going on in her life and helps her process things and the impact of identity and expectations.
For her student show, at least 25 to 30 pieces will be on display through Dec. 22. She’ll also have several large paintings showing.
“I still have things in the kiln, so I’ve been up here a lot,” Daw said, referring to the visual arts building at UTPB.
When she graduates in the spring, she will have a bachelor’s degree in fine art. In January, she’ll apply for her MFA.
“I know my art is extremely important to me, so I’m looking at different residencies and I think that would be important also,” Daw said.
Starting off at Midland College studying business, she was going to transfer to UTPB and continue her studies. But she thought about what she would do if she could take any option. Art was the answer.
She started as a double major in business and art, but she fell in love with the art department and switched to an art major with a business minor.
“Then I got to I think it was close to my last semester I had a ceramic and 3D class and week one I knew … this is what I want to do for the rest of my life, so why am I graduating like right now? So I kind of backpedaled and became a fine art major. I’ve been here forever. There’s a lot of individualization here, so it’s more based on what do you want to do and how do you want to work? From what I’ve seen, I haven’t seen that in a lot of other programs,” Daw said. “I’ve had a lot of freedom just to be able to make what I want to and to be able to work with that and to figure out what is my voice and how does that affect the community. It becomes more than just projects. … It’s a career.”
She added that she’s always drawn and painted, but at some point at UTPB art started to overtake her life and thoughts.
“I think there’s been a lot that’s changed me to become an artist,” Daw said.
She noted that it’s not too late to try your hand at art no matter how old you are.
“It depends on what’s going on in your life and when is the key moment for that to happen and what makes that happen and who are the people who influence that,” Daw said.
Among her works at the entrance to the visual arts building is a sculpture of former first lady Laura Bush and she also created one of four Laura Bush sculptures around a dinner table on the idea of Who’s Coming to Dinner, like the classic movie “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.”
Each student had to create an artistic environment involving a dinner party. The project was designed to get students thinking about using both hand building and throwing skills, along with other different techniques, Stanley said.
“So I made this whole dinner table with Laura Bush. Over the summer, we were able to set it up in the gallery,” Daw said.
She said all of her work is kind of intense.
“I like the whole eerie, making people think about something,” Daw said.
Daw is married to Bronson Chadwick, a magician.
Stanley is quite proud of Daw’s evolution.
“Emily has been on a journey. The want and desire to become an artist with a profound voice must begin with mastering several artistic mediums. Some students start that process early. Some students find their way to the studio like a Siren’s call. Emily’s original path was as far from the studio as one could be. Her academic and professional pursuits, while still creative, were more abstract than the physical nature of molten metal and clay,” Stanley said.
“As a non-traditional transfer student, the transition from what you thought you were going to do, exposure to a whole new way of thinking and then leaving that path and starting a whole new journey can be life altering. In art, one never really knows how good they are. That ‘good’ bar is only raised by others and that bar can have a negative side also,” Stanley added.
“The encouragement of the whole faculty of art gives to our students is that they must ‘dip their toes’ into (a) bigger pond. Ms. Daw’s acceptance to a national juried show in New Orleans sends a sure sign that her choice to travel on the art path was a good one!” Stanley said.
