INNER FEELING
Catherine Jae Ignacio
Major: Fine Arts Practice, BFA
Untitled, Collaboration with Yoaz Tuor, Sociology Major, Glazed raku ceramic, 10” x 6.75” x 0.88”, 2019
Untitled, Glazed ceramic, mirror, 13.75” x 9.25” x 0.75”, 2020
Reflect (2019-2020) One of the first things we do to start our day in the morning is look at ourselves in a mirror. We see ourselves and see the smallest detail of our bodies. Something we like and something we don’t like. When we first created the shape of an eye, I kept looking at it like I was looking at myself. “Are these the eyes that look at me?” I questioned. A couple years ago, I grew into not liking to look at myself in the mirror. I felt uncomfortable to look at myself when my eyes were filled with tears. The feeling I got was I didn’t like seeing myself when I felt this way. I didn’t want to see that side of me but it’s happening. With this series, I’d like for you to interact with my art. Stop. Stare. Reflect. Reflect on yourself and think about how did you get here today. Ignore the background noise around you. Ignore the people. Think about yourself. What are you thinking? What’s one thing you can’t stop thinking about? What’s in the back of your mind? Worries? Happiness? Angry? Depressed? Irritated? What do you want? How are you feeling? What can you do to make things better? Life can really suck, but there is a reason why we are here and it’s possible, we ourselves don’t know why still. I hope for the best for you and that this interaction helped you in some way. “Untitled” 2019 Collaboration with Yoaz Tuor, Sociology Major
Bottled Up (2020) Bottled Up revolves around my own emotions from what I experienced in my childhood and entering my college career. Due to overwhelming situations, I could not express my feelings rather I hid them away. This results to the phrase “bottled up”. Over the years, I made myself busy with different task from my personal life, being employed, and my studies. I didn’t think about the later issues rather I told myself to keep busy. I became overwhelmed and thought I could accomplish everything I can think of doing. I thought all of these accomplishments were going to be celebrated but rather, there were things, the littlest things, were noticed. Those “little things” were mistakes and errors that I did not see. My attention went towards those little things and it broke me. I kept thinking to myself, “do people really care?” You would say to me, “don’t think what other people say” and that’s right, but they’ll still say it. I underwent through some serious emotions and eventually sought for help. I use ceramics as a way to get away from everything else in my life and do something with my hands. Being able to manipulate the clay, makes me feel in control to create different shapes that are all unique in their own way. Each ceramic bottle in this series represents an emotion. Some emotions are translated in Tagalog, Filipino language, to portray the feelings of my childhood memories.
BIO
Catherine Jae Ignacio “Cj”, is a Bay Area artist specializing in functional ceramic pieces and sculptures. She was born in Quezon City, Philippines and from a working class Filipino family of carpenters and makers. Catherine immigrated to the United States at the age of five with the rest of her family in California. She began as a crafter when she was seven years old by creating handmade cards and collages from scrapes of paper. From there, she was willing to learn with different materials and techniques to work with. She didn’t think about majoring in Art when she entered the Peralta Community Colleges back in 2013. After being undecided in what to study, she thought about art and gave it try. Catherine has been working and exploring with clay since August 2017 at Merritt College in Oakland, CA. She earned her Associates in Arts, Art History and Art Studio at College of Alameda, Alameda, CA. She transferred to California State University East Bay in 2018 to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts while practicing her craft as a ceramic artist.
Email: catherinejae.art@gmail.com
Website: www.catherinejae.com
Instagram: catherinejae.art