Virginia Scotchie Is a Ceramic Artist

Virginia Scotchie is a ceramic artist, primarily based in Columbia, South Carolina in the United States

of America, and teaches at the University of South Carolina. Her work has been and is exhibited

extensively throughout the United States and internationally, including Australia, France, Taiwan

and China. Scotchie says that most of her inspiration, for her work, comes from the world around

her and many of her works can be seen as drawn from inspiration of everyday objects, such as

children's toys, cups and bowls. "As a maker of art I search for new forms within the context of my

day to day world". Virginia Scotchie's works are generally installation and mimic mass produced

objects that are all handmade, generally with the use of a combination of the coil construction

method and slab construction method that is flattened and smoothed with rubber mallets, and

generally without the use of design drawings before the construction of the work. Scotchie often

arranges her works in a way that is open to individual interpretation and that suggest personal

relationships to the audience that are sometimes unknown even to themselves. She generally always

works in series and creates works of various sizes, including both large and small objects within the

same installation group, and with the use of a variety of shapes and colours that connect the work.

Her works are not created for traditional use but are created with the aim to be aesthetically

pleasing, and visually enjoyed and experienced.

Virginia Scotchie holds a strong sense of family which is evident through

regular representations of family in her work. One of her installations

‘Familia' features ceramic pots of different sizes and various, though

similar, glazes arranged in front of enlarged photographs of her family. The title ‘Familia' is also in

reference to her family and her Polish-Italian heritage and the work illustrates family connections.

This idea of family is evident in other of her installations. Scotchie often installs sculpture in groups

that appear unrelated and work as individual sculptures when presented