To lionize his Long Beach barrio, Christopher Suarez turns to clay
“A darling of our anthropologic past, pottery has been embedded in culture for thousands of years, leading to great insights about different communities of people and how they lived their lives. Today clay is only one of many available materials, and for most everyday uses, it isn’t the most practical option. But in a new exhibition at UC Santa Barbara’s Art, Design & Architecture Museum (AD&A), artist Christopher Suarez
is using clay to record the everyday spaces of his Long Beach barrio.
“I was looking at Indigenous pottery and thinking about how those cultures would use clay and ceramics in their daily lives, whether functional or religious … and how clay can serve as a recorder of time and place,” said Suarez, a Los Angeles-based sculptor, in a public talk presented by the museum. “I want to work in that same manner, putting my values in my work — mine, my family’s and my community’s
https://www.news.ucsb.edu/2023/020983/lionize-his-long-beach-barrio-christopher-suarez-turns-clay