Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast · Ben Carter

David MacDonald on the Pan-African aesthetics in his work

·1 hr 2 min·3 clips

MacDonald links ritual in his work to his mother taking out the good china for Thanksgiving.

A symbol keeps tugging at the conversation. He talks about returning to Adinkra imagery, with the knot of reconciliation as the one he has carried through different parts of his practice. The pull is visual and about meaning at once. He likes the endless spiral, the going around and around, but he also stays with what the symbol means. The plate is where the idea has to prove itself. Some plates have already used the knot as a central image, changed enough to feel like part of the work while still keeping its source in view. Now he is looking ahead. The next series may bring in other Adinkra symbols, though he has not decided which ones or how they should show up. That undecided quality gives the passage its charge. He does not want instant recognition. He wants the viewer to hang around long enough for the surface to start making sense, the way a mind keeps hunting through abstraction for something familiar. It sounds less like a polished artist statement than a studio problem being tested out loud. The materials keep the talk grounded: plates, letterhead, a business card, textile tradition, symbolic meaning, and the viewer's attention. The excerpt has patience built into it. He is weighing hidden images, over 200 possible symbols, and the difficulty of choosing forms that reveal themselves slowly. The strongest thread is the work of making inherited signs feel alive on ceramic plates.

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Tales of a Red Clay Rambler: A pottery and ceramic art podcast