Kelly Carámbula
Artist Statement
2025
I see my work as a continuation of myself that embraces the fullness of being a woman, a mother, an artist. I create space for emotion and complexity that language alone cannot express. Through making, I uncover and explore the joys and hardships of life.
My work starts by sketching forms that echo my emotions. These drawings are the vocabulary of shapes, textures, and colors necessary for expressing feelings in a range of mediums. The physicality of my work in clay, fiber, and metal all bring a sense of the hand. Each piece is a tactile conversation with the material — its character, its tradition, its history — embodying an acceptance of things that are both in and out of our control.
My shapes recall lived moments with their organic outlines while their textures show the variation of responses embedded in any circumstance. Choosing color is a balancing act between bold, vibrant hues that demand to be seen and muted tones that ground me. The relationships between these elements is the rhythm that moves the work between moments of discomfort, discovery, and delight.
My practice is guided by instinct and intuition, while my process celebrates imperfections and differences. I make, gather, and sort through the individual elements of each work according to what feels needed. In doing so, I defy normative conventions of functional craftwork, declare my determination to make room for all that I am, and embrace my vulnerability. I want my work to bring a knowing that we can be many things at once.