“Pentimenti: Ceramic Funeral Vessels as Biographies of Spiritual Homecomings” by Holly Ratcliffe – an online presentation hosted by CSRS

Pentimenti: Ceramic Funeral Vessels as Biographies of Spiritual Homecomings
Holly Ratcliffe

Thursday, April 6
5:00-6:00 p.m.
DTB A110 and online
Join via Zoom at uvic.ca/csrs/events

Through the creation of a series of ceramic funeral urns, my project explores personal stories of returning home to abandoned roots of belief and spiritual practice in hospice and other end of life contexts. The word pentimento is used in oil painting to refer to the reappear- ance of original elements that the artist tried to obliterate by over- painting. I am researching stories of people for whom this might be said about their spiritual histories, expressing this through layers of ceramic glaze and surface treatment.

Holly Ratcliffe is a ceramic artist. Her focus is on creating simple, clas- sic forms of funeral ware with surface treatments suggesting great age. She is also trained in anthropology and spirituality. She is inter- ested in using her art to engage reflection on attitudes toward death.

https://www.uvic.ca/research/centres/csrs/