Ceramic Series, 2019
Terracotta
20” x 9” x 2” (individually)

The 2019 ceramic series was inspired by baroque decorations in churches in Naples and is a synthesis of everything Sykes had done throughout her years apprenticing with ceramicist Laura Mazzella.

 
 
 

Death of a Whale Series, 2017-2019
Terracotta
20” x 12” x 12” (individually)

Inspired by seeing a film in Naples of Green Peace’s work to help whales, Sykes created oceanic forms to process her anguish about what she had seen. Refraining from using glaze allowed her to focus on surface texture through carving and decoration and maintain a sense of rawness.

 
 
 

Ceramic Series, 2018
Glazed terracotta
20” x 12” x 4” (individually)

2018 marked the beginning of Sykes’s apprenticeship with ceramicist Laura Mazzella in an effort to translate her painterly language into ceramics.