Ambivalences of art: Nuance, contradiction, and duality in the words and works of women in contemporary ceramics

In this dissertation I examine gendered experiences and artistic identities of 21 women who are contemporary ceramic artists. Literature reviewed for this study addresses the history of female ceramic artists in the U.S., gender studies and art history, and a range of related subjects within cultural studies and ceramic archaeology. This study utilizes an interpretive lens of ambivalence. By definition, the concept of ambivalence characterizes the nuance, contradiction, tension, and duality associated with women's works and women's lives. This dissertation, then, analyzes ambivalence within contemporary artistic experiences of gender (e.g. being treated in a particular way as a woman artist) as well as artistic responses relating to gender (e.g. creating artwork in response to or dialogue with gender issues) via interviews with research subjects.This study is qualitative, involving two stages of interviews with research subjects and analysis of their artworks. This study is influenced by a range of feminist research methodology, and utilizes portraiture methodology, an arts research method emphasizing careful documentation in research and co-construction of the research text in collaboration with subjects. This study identifies ambivalence within artistic, literary and verbal documents of contemporary women ceramic artists. The depth of artistic experience and identity illuminated by this research has rich implications for gender studies and art education. Some relevant findings to be taken into account within the teaching of ceramics and the study of its history include subtle and unexpected persistence of gendered associations with technology, gendered symbols and traditions of ceramics, and a diversity of gendered learning experiences. This research prioritizes women's work in ceramics as a neglected set of views, and argues that an ambivalent view of art allows us to move beyond the dualities of maleness and femaleness to multiplicities within a continuum of gendered experiences and practices in ceramics.