Artist Feature: Wes Hart

For this week's artist feature I'm excited to show the work of Wes Hart. Hart is a ceramics major at the University of Central Arkansas. His work is personal; exploring ideas such as tradition, gender, and domestic life. Through his explorations he hopes to address the stereotypes surrounding these ideas. Check out Wes's website and follow him on Instagram (@hart_wes) too see more of his work!

Artist Statement: I look to the ideas such as those held in quilt making as an art of salvaging, a domestic practice, and one that is typically taught and passed between generations. Repurposing the valued domestic skills held in my family, through means of fabric, ceramics, and photography, I pull from the influences of my past and work through the literal ideas and practices of those who formed my world view. 
What does it mean to take away the physical use of an object we are all familiar with? How do these objects, boiled down to their visual use, gain new meanings in their proximity to others?

Through craft materials I explore the images I grew up taking in and reflect on the power of how an object can take on the entirety of an individual, a family’s tradition, or a culture’s prejudices. My hope is to combat the stereotypes often formed in relation with southern tradition, question gender roles that have been established, and illicit empathy sometimes dormant in us all.

To have your work featured on The Millennial Artist: email 3-5 images or a video and an artist statement to millennialartistblog@gmail.com. Artist features will be posted every Wednesday!