ANN ARBOR, MI -- For Ann Arbor artist Monica Rickhoff Wilson, sculpting is about bringing her childhood memories to life.
Her mother, a teacher, often decorated Rickhoff Wilson’s childhood home for each season, pulling out holiday décor and other seasonal items, including artificial fruit.
“I was just fascinated by stuff like these artificial fruits, and I just have this visceral memory of where I would go and pop them off and put them in my mouth, and they kind of suction your cheek a little bit,” Rickhoff Wilson said.
Rickoff Wilson will share those memories through her works of art during the 2022 Ann Arbor Art Fair, which begins Thursday, July 21 and ends Saturday, July 23, in downtown Ann Arbor. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday.
You can find Rickhoff Wilson at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original in booth WA815.
Rickhoff Wilson started her journey into clay in elementary school, before exploring fashion design in high school. She enrolled in a fashion design school in Chicago, but was told she needed to cultivate her drawing skill before she could continue. It was in a life drawing class that she rediscovered working with clay.
“And it just made so much sense and it was so much easier to just work with it and do something I knew,” Rickhoff Wilson said. “So, I just went back to it.”
Rickhoff Wilson now works out of a home studio in Ann Arbor, creating sculptures using terracotta, ceramic, stoneware and porcelain. Her work focuses on a type of sculpture she calls “clusters,” a rounded starburst form inspired by the artificial grapes from her childhood home.
A set of the green plastic grapes resides in her workspace as a reference.
“Part of what I’m doing is taking these memories from childhood and these materials that are really ephemeral and making these impermanent things tangible or more long lasting and more permanent,” Rickhoff Wilson said.
To make the clusters, Rickhoff Wilson “throws” — a method of forming clay on a potter’s wheel — each half of an individual point, joining them together to make an oblong globe. The globes are then put together to create the cluster, which is then bisque fired, glazed and fired again.
Rickhoff Wilson creates the sculpture in a variety of sizes, varying from ones which can be held in the hand to large sculptures. Large sculptures can take several months to complete, she said. Prices range from $150 for a small sculpture up to $3,000 for a large one.
Although the sculptures are fairly sturdy, Rickhoff Wilson said she does enjoy the tension the delicacy of the ceramics bring.
“I do love something that’s a little bit precarious like that, a little bit delicate,” Rickhoff Wilson said. “If you’re not taking care, then it could be gone in a second.”
A smaller version of the large clusters features flocking instead of glaze, inspired by vintage Christmas ornaments. For Rickhoff Wilson, the tension of a fragile piece of artwork covered with something that invites touch echoes the same push and pull of the ephemeral and the functional.
“I’m still kind of climbing through that. Trying to figure out — what is it that that I want to hold on to so tightly?” Rickhoff Wilson said. “I think it’s a connection with my mom.”
This is Wilson’s third year at Art Fair overall and second individual year. Her first year was as part of the Ann Arbor’s Potter’s Guild. Wilson’s work also can be found online, on social media or through the Ann Arbor’s Potter’s Guild website.
More on the Ann Arbor Art Fair:
Ann Arbor Art Fair to remain a 3-day event in 2022
Ann Arbor Art Fair Townie Street Party canceled for third straight year
Music is returning to the Ann Arbor Art Fair. See who’s playing.
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