Description

Brant Weiland earned his Masters of Fine Art at the University of Iowa, completed a Postbacc program at the University of Arkansas and received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from Northwest Missouri State University focusing on ceramics and sculpture. He has shown work throughout the U.S. and taken part in residencies at Penland, Red Lodge, OxBow, Arrowmont, and Chautauqua. He was invited to be a part of the 2015 VACI summer and returned as a Ceramic Technician for the 2019, 2020 summers. Raised on a farm in Northern Iowa, he has had a lifelong curiosity about his connection to the land and the items that resonate with his family’s story. This has led him to investigate the role of collections, personal heirlooms, and the recreation of objects from memories. He is a frequent traveler and an avid mountain biker, constantly seeking new experiences to share with his partner and discovering the potential his bike tires can yield.   His work investigates how artifacts tell a story of self and place through the recreation of objects. He utilizes wheel throwing and mold making primarily for its ability to borrow from the world. Working with porcelain makes use of the material’s archival nature, while reproducing impressions from slip morphs them into ghostly echoes. Translating items into clay allows for a close examination of the components, at times the forms are found by happenstance, others are drawn from memories and conversations. He examines how context and proximity play a role between perception and imagination, culminating as he considers historical references while acknowledging the layers of chance and lived experience. The vessels are our stand-ins, the accumulating objects are history and the world happening to us.