DANA E GABEL

 

Everything we know and do is a learned behavior.  Even our thinking is based around our learning and language.  How people form relationships with others has always interested me. The book titled Connected (The Surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives) by Nicholas A. Christakis, MD, PhD and James H. Fowler, PhD furthered my interest in the subject. This book solidified my belief that the people in our immediate as well as non-immediate social networks greatly influence who we are currently. I often wonder does this aid or cripple us? I translate this concept into my ceramics in that clay is alive and contains the remnants of what was once alive. The coils are my interpretation and abstraction of a social network web of relationships that connect one person to another.  Cultures influence my art and I believe it’s one of the driving forces that connect us all. I carve the Never-Ending Knot symbol into my pieces, this symbol represents the dynamic expanse of the universe and the endless cycle of life and death, which relates to us all.