Featured Artist - Danielle
Knight
Throughout history dancing has been a way to tell stories, worship,
celebrate, and express emotions in a way words could not. For
me the focus is on the communication that happens between two
partners during the dance. I am in love with swing dancing because
a story is always being told during the dance that you can share
with your partner and the audience. My work showcases the grace
and gesture the human form expresses when dancing. The Lindy
hop , Balboa, Shag, Charleston and Jazz steps allow the dancer
to exhibit grace, and through improvisations of steps, highly
stylized gestures. Drawing from these movements, I then translate
them into clay. My pieces embody the rhythm, connectedness, and
atmosphere created in the dance.
A dance in itself is a story with a progression of emotional
reactions that come from the music enveloping the dancers. I
carve and mold my dancers our of coil built cylinders as though
they are reacting to the emotion of the dance. The viewer moves
around the piece following the moves and gestures of the dancers
until they reach the beginning, re-initiating the dance between
the vessel and the viewer again. The colors on the works are
slips and stains that enhance the mood of the piece. The carving
accentuates the parts of the dancer's bodies that are stressing
and stretching.
Swing dance is something that surfaces in everything I do and
has become a way of life for me. I travel everywhere to dance
with strangers and close friends, and to teach so that others
can come to enjoy it as much as I do. This work is saturated
with my passion of dance and clay. I expect I will continue to
discover new ways to explore and share this love of mine.
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 Contact Us!Phone: (256) 534-3968 ArtisticImages@knology.net |
 
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