July 1~30

INTERNATIONAL AWARD WINNING ARTIST MAGDOLENE DYKSTRA Spirit Incarnate 'The world is jammed with pain, need, and callousness. Even though there are faint glimmers of light, my hope is very fragile. The more I learn, see, and experience, the more precarious it becomes ' 'Karen Louise Fletcher referred to “the dilemma of the spirit incarnate”.1 Ann Lamott says that we are not humans in a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings in a human experience.2 My work shows snap shots of this conflicted existence. My characters show our hurt, our depravity, and our brokenness. This baggage weighs us down, and ages us beyond our years, shown in the figures’ tired features. My figures are enveloped so that only their expressive faces can be seen. This references the Ancient Egyptian tradition of preparing canopic jars as part of a lengthy preparation for the after-life. These trapped figures also refer to the concept of our spirits being ensnared in corrupted physical forms. Even though our race seems pathetically broken, there are occasional glimpses of hope. God has not left us. I believe that He suffers with us, but we are deaf and blind to His presence. I manifest this hope through the care and detail I invest in each individual character. Even though each character has dangerous secrets, each one has an element of beauty. ' 1 Karen Louise Fletcher as quoted in 500 Figures in Clay. Lark Books: 2004. 2 Lamott, Anne. Plan B. New York, Riverhead Books: 2005.   Magdolene Dykstra is a Canadian ceramist living in York, UK. She was seduced by clay while studying fine arts at Houghton College in New York State, USA. She began her career as a sculptor working in stone; however, she quickly shifted her attention to clay. She was captured by the immediate responsiveness of the medium and its fleshiness as it pushed back against her hands. After graduating with a Bachelors in Art, she continued to work with clay and study its roots and applications. She benefited from involvement with the local ceramic communities. As part of her study of ceramics, Magdolene spent three years exploring functional work. Although she continued to enjoy the medium, she did not find functional work emotionally or spiritually satisfying. In 2007, Magdolene returned to sculptural ceramics as an outlet for her thoughts. As an avid reader, Magdolene has learned a great deal from researching the work of other artists, like Tom Bartel, Adrian Arleo, and Tip Toland. She continues to find inspiration from her experiences and a variety of literature. Magdolene has shown her work throughout Ontario, the USA, and the UK.