Closed Containers

Alice Ballard's path in life has been as rich and textured as the surfaces of her ceramic pods. The artist spent her formative years abroad as an Air Force "brat," which shaped her values as a woman who both nests and explores, focuses and experiments. "That lifestyle made the world seem more interconnected. It made me feel very open-minded," says Ballard. "I lived in Paris from the ages of ten to twelve, but I also have memories of planting corn and beans as a young girl at my grandmother's house in South Carolina."

With just enough time at her grandmother's to stick around and see the bean sprouts peeking through the soil, Ballard's infatuation with pods might have begun at an early age. But her travels as an adult to Macedonia, China and India and Alaska suggest multifaceted influences. This has culminated in an aesthetic that heavily references the mother/child/germination metaphor and also explores the more evocative realm of wonder and awe.

Kate Schultz
writes from her home in Bakersville, NC
April /09 issue of Ceramics Monthly Magazine