Ignoring Borders
Penny Truitt
Created : 2004
Donated : 2004
Medium : Clay
Dimensions: 24 1/2 inx2 3/4 in
Located: Annex Walkway
Penny Truitt is a contemporary ceramic artist whose work blends tactile materiality with conceptual inquiry. Drawing on both traditional and experimental techniques, Truitt creates forms that engage with themes of place, division, and boundary—both physical and psychological.
Ignoring Borders (2004) is constructed from raku-fired slab forms, a process that embraces unpredictability and imperfection. Raku, a Japanese-inspired firing technique, involves removing pieces from the kiln while red-hot and cooling them rapidly—often in combustible materials—which produces crackled textures, smoky shadows, and organic surface variations. This elemental process reflects Truitt’s interest in transformation and threshold.
The title, Ignoring Borders, suggests a philosophical stance—perhaps a resistance to categorization, a challenge to geographic or ideological separations, or a reflection on the permeability of identities. The slab forms, when viewed together, likely carry both weight and fragility—evoking walls, maps, or fragments of land.
