Andrea Marquis

Andrea Marquis was born in Salem, Massachusetts and lives in the Philadelphia region of Pennsylvania. She was an Artist in Residence at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia from 2015 to 2020, at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana from 2005 to 2007and at Peters Valley School of Craft in New Jersey from 2000 to 2001. She has studied at Syracuse University, The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and received her Masters of Fine Art in 2009 from The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. 

She has taught ceramics, 3d design and drawing at numerous colleges and universities including: Tyler School of Art and Architecture and Temple University, The Community College of Philadelphia, Maryland Institute College of Art, Rutgers University Camden, The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, and The College of New Jersey. Marquis has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally and her work can be found in collections like the Park Towne Place in Philadelphia, Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, The Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana and the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum in Alfred, New York and at the Fitler Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as part of the Artist in Residence 2.0 cohort. She is represented by Todd Merrill Studio in New York City. 

Artist Statement

My work is the material manifestations of shadows, reflections, traces and holes. These objects are linked conceptually and physically to the imprint of my hand, echoing the continuity of presence, place and touch. Often looking like flesh or bone, there is a bodily presence that is about both the liminal and permanence. These objects are part of on an ongoing series about a personal chinoiserie. 

Asymmetrical Form #1 is created from the shadows of a potato vine and is a nod to growing up in Salem, Massachusetts- a place that links a history of cultural amalgamation from a marine-based global trade port with the lore of magic, religion and persecution. At first this form looks symmetrical but on second glance you may find a discontinuity. 

Red Wreath is created from the shadow of a fig tree and was inspired by 18th Sevres potpourri boats and East Asian incense burners made for the export market. At the top of this form there is a small vessel that is designed to hold fragrant essential oil and I am interested in how fragrance may be utilized to engage our senses and stimulate memory, nostalgia and joy. 

 

 The two vases in this series of Garniture flank Red Wreath and are a new color way the minty green meant to temper the blood red. The multiple firings for these two different glazes result in a hazy effect of blurry microcrystals and are centered around, intuition, lost family histories, the female body and the unknowable. These pieces are the embodiment of a grey area where function, utility and ornament blend together. I hope that they challenge assumptions of the substance of decoration and the function of sculpture.