Nan Kennedy
Visual Artist; Visual Artist: Crafts; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Mosaic; Visual Artist: Sculpture
Nan Kennedy has always loved clay. “I still remember receiving my portion of clay on the first day of grade school. The formless gray lump with its oily smell seemed begging to be molded into something wonderful; but alas, reading and writing came first, and we rarely got to use the clay at all.” Born and raised in small-town Wisconsin, Nan enjoyed art throughout her childhood. Whenever something needed to be drawn in the classroom, Nan was always called upon as the resident artist. She adored art class, and entered as many drawing and coloring contests as she could find. During her college years she studied painting and printmaking at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges, but no clay classes were offered. After college, she picked up her love of clay again and began making pottery on a kick-wheel at the YWCA in Philadelphia. Bowls, mugs, teapots – anything that could be thrown she made. “Those were times of sheer joy,” she recalls, “the wet earthiness of the clay, the physical exertion of the kick-wheel, and the mental focus that transported me to a wholly different place, were all combined with the act of creation that is truly spiritual.” But then, life intervened, bringing marriage and five kids, including a son with autism. “The trials and tribulations of raising children, especially one with intensive special needs, necessarily superseded any artistic ambitions for a time, but it brought many joys of its own. The vision I now have as an artist could not have emerged without the gaining of insight, and, I hope, some wisdom, from those years of struggle and sacrifice.” Nan and her family moved from Pennsylvania to rural Kentucky, where they tried living off the land near an Amish community. They had no electricity for their three years there, and two of her children were born in the wood-heated cabin where they lived. “Our experience in Kentucky was life-changing,” says Nan. “Living well off the grid, in a horse-and-buggy community, and regularly interacting with the Amish folks gave me a whole new perspective on life. The utter peacefulness of the surroundings and the quiet, reflective nature of the people we came to know emblazoned upon me the importance of slowing down, noticing the beauty around us, and meditating on the nature of things that truly matter.” Later, Nan’s family moved to rural Maryland, where her husband Martin attended graduate school. They tried to maintain as much of the country life as they could, continuing to raise chickens, and heating their home with a wood stove. When time allowed, Nan took more art classes and honed her skills, anticipating the time when she could turn back more fully to those formless lumps of clay and rediscover the splendor hiding within. In 2005, Nan’s family moved to Nashville, Tennessee where Martin had been offered a teaching position. No longer living in the country, she kept the country close to her heart. In the city, though, Nan had many more opportunities for art open up to her. Meanwhile, her children were growing and becoming more independent. When her daughter was nine, Nan wanted to introduce her to the joy of clay, and so enrolled her in a class taught by Lena Lucas, a renowned Nashville clay artist. Week after week, picking up her daughter at the class, Nan’s longing to return to clay grew, until at last she enrolled herself in an adult class with Lena. Reports Nan, “My plan had been to start throwing on the wheel immediately, but Lena – an unparalleled teacher of clay – had other ideas. She insisted we begin at the beginning, which meant a lot of hand-building work.” Nan, who had never done much, if any, hand building, was amazed at the range and complexity of the forms, and the variety of textures that could be achieved with pieces that were exclusively hand-built. Visiting a new friend’s house one day in Nashville, Nan was struck by a number of intriguing folk art woodcarvings her friend had purchased in Central America. Hanging on her walls were saints, angels, crucifixes, all in relief. “They were awe-inspiring – I felt I could look at them all day,” says Nan. “I would have loved to own one, but I didn’t have any means to get to Central America!” The idea of actually making something similar didn’t occur to her right away, because she didn’t have any interest in wood carving. It must have percolated in her head, however, because one day when hand-building, she made a small relief of St. Peter, situating it in a clay frame that she also made. She loved the result, and immediately wanted to create more. “From then on I was hooked,” says Nan. “Pottery per se went out the window, and I completely turned my attention to sculpting figures. I wanted to create faces that were real and compelling, and put them on backgrounds that would make them come alive.” For that reason, she decided to focus on high relief work, that would allow her to sculpt figures and faces, and combine them with a background that would give them context and color. She took a mosaic class with local artist Linda Sack, and then apprenticed with her to study the art further. “Linda had studied at the source – Ravenna, Italy – so she knew her mosaic,” reports Nan. “She was a wonderful mentor as well.” Nan began to incorporate mosaics into her pieces, not only as background, but integrated into the piece itself. In a sense, the clay figures themselves become tesserae, which are intertwined with the glass tiles to form a unified piece. Over time, mosaic has become an integral part of her larger works. It forms the background scene, and oftentimes frames the work as well. The luminous and vivid colors she uses burst forth with a vibrant intensity, surrounding her figures with a radiance that befits the deep mysteries they are acting out or reflecting upon. “Art should be beautiful as well as meaningful. There are many types of meaning, and also different types of beauty, but I think artwork needs to arrest you on both levels,” says Nan. This belief, coupled with her strong faith and life experience, has guided her to her subject matter: religious icons as well as secular pieces that encourage contemplation. She says, “I create each icon to awe and inspire, to bring not only beauty but also a sense of wonderment to the viewer.” Nan continues to be fascinated by religious icons and by folk art styles that use figures as a focal point. Both styles sharply delineate these figures while shying away from strict realism in depiction, and both use bold colors extravagantly. Traditional icons from medieval times were paintings of Christ, the Saints, and Angels on wood panels. With their deliberately distorted, long thin noses, almond-shaped eyes, small mouths, and elongated fingers, they were not meant to be realistic or even attractive – it was believed that too much realism or physical beauty would detract from the religious contemplation of the viewer. Folk art, on the other hand, is the product of self-taught artisans in less affluent cultures. It projects a beauty that is unselfconsciously earthy and genuine. Nan draws from both these traditions. One point of departure from traditional icons – besides the fact that hers are sculptural rather than two-dimensional – is that Nan emphasizes the expressions on the faces of her subjects, while painted icons tend to depict stoic, almost blank faces. What are they pondering in the moment that she is capturing in the piece? Explains Nan, “I want the viewer to contemplate the thoughts of the figure, then to go beyond those to their own contemplation of the mysteries of life, and ultimately to find joy in the seeking.”
