After some rest and reflection, Southern Heat Exchange is excited to resume our digital Artist-in-Residence program with the skilled and thoughtful Elspeth Schulze! She will be sharing updates from a new home studio based in Tulsa, OK this month as she, like all of us, adapts and evolves her practice to new constraints and environments.

Studio Portrait, 2018 Photo by Shane Darwent — Studio Portrait, 2018 *Photo by Shane Darwent*

Elspeth Schulze is an interdisciplinary artist originally from Grand Coteau, Louisiana. Through ceramic, textile and sculptural processes, she explores the complex relationship between material and place. Elspeth studied literature at Loyola University New Orleans, pattern making and garment design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and is finishing up an MFA in Ceramics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Before grad school, she worked behind the scenes in the arts as a studio assistant, production manager, and gallery director at a small college. In January of 2021, Elspeth will join the Tulsa Artist Fellowship in Tulsa, Oklahoma as an artist in residence.

website: elspethschulze.com

ig: elspethschulze

To be of use, Elspeth Schulze, 2019 stoneware, fiberglass insulation, blue tarp, sandbags, sand, extension cords, hydrocal, concrete, plywood, Dimensions variable — *To be of use*, Elspeth Schulze, 2019
stoneware, fiberglass insulation, blue tarp, sandbags, sand, extension cords, hydrocal, concrete, plywood, Dimensions variable

From the artist:

I combine a background of ceramics and patternmaking to sew, cast and cut forms, creating sculptural work that responds to space. I grew up near the marsh in Louisiana, where the ground is soft underfoot. The marsh is a between place, where solid land meets the Gulf of Mexico. This is a muddled middle ground, where the land is full of water and the water is full of land. My work explores the idea of a porous place, a passage between one thing and another. Plywood panels become sieves, sandbags slipping through slots; fiberglass insulation winding through perforated ceramic vessels. I use materials that keep things out, like blue tarps and roofing tar, and materials that filter things through, like steel mesh and silk.

I work through a series of repeated forms, each piece relating to the last. The meander, a riverine shape, is a common motif in my work and comes from the decorative border found on ancient Greek vases. The pattern is named after the Maeander River in present day Turkey, but here, the meander relates to the Mississippi River that shaped Louisiana. This force of water is highly controlled but poised to break levees and shift course. In my work, the meander stands as a symbol for change and a reminder of the inevitable limits of our command.

The shape of water, Elspeth Schulze, 2017 sandbags, blue tarp, thread, sand, Dimensions variable Installed in the boiler room of the former public waterworks building in Adrian, MI. — The shape of water, Elspeth Schulze, 2017
sandbags, blue tarp, thread, sand, Dimensions variable
*Installed in the boiler room of the former public waterworks building in Adrian, MI.*

A trying: of what, of weight, Elspeth Schulze, 2019 plywood, blue tarp, thread, sand, 90 x 30 x 18 inches — A trying: of what, of weight, Elspeth Schulze, 2019
plywood, blue tarp, thread, sand, 90 x 30 x 18 inches

What about the brink? (The moment just before), Elspeth Schulze, 2018 plywood, sandbags, sand, 96 x 48 x 24 inches — What about the brink? (The moment just before),
Elspeth Schulze, 2018
plywood, sandbags, sand, 96 x 48 x 24 inches

Over, under, through, Elspeth Schulze, 2019 tarp, oiled paper, oil pastel, thumbtacks, Dimensions variable — Over, under, through, Elspeth Schulze, 2019
tarp, oiled paper, oil pastel, thumbtacks, Dimensions variable

Aggregate (the Unwilding), Elspeth Schulze, 2018 steel mesh, Colorado rose granite, rainbow chip granite, white mason sand, recycled asphalt, recycled concrete, sandbags, Dimensions variable — Aggregate (the Unwilding), Elspeth Schulze, 2018
steel mesh, Colorado rose granite, rainbow chip granite, white mason sand, recycled asphalt, recycled concrete, sandbags,
Dimensions variable

Whole or Part(ed) (overhead view), Elspeth Schulze, 2018 porcelain, stoneware, plaster, bisqued sand, 30.5 x 96 x 48 inches — Whole or Part(ed) (overhead view), Elspeth Schulze, 2018
porcelain, stoneware, plaster, bisqued sand, 30.5 x 96 x 48 inches