{"id":1689,"date":"2025-08-07T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1689"},"modified":"2025-08-07T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:00:00","slug":"xanthe-summers-weaves-themes-of-labor-and-visibility-in-bold-ceramic-vessels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=1689","title":{"rendered":"Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Xanthe<\/p>\n

\u201cClay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,\u201d says Xanthe Summers<\/a>, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d like cleaning, mending, working with textiles, and caregiving. When it comes to clay, she says, \u201cI think mostly I am invigorated by its ability to hold\u2014to hold water, to hold function, to give shape, to carry stories, and to carry meaning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently based in London, Summers grew up in Zimbabwe, where she observed inequities within the social structure that mirror many places around the world, especially in terms of gendered labor within the domestic sphere that often goes largely unseen and unacknowledged. She explains that \u201cmany homes have cleaners and gardeners who exist within this \u2018invisible\u2019 framework: caring for children, cooking their meals, and sometimes traveling for hours\u2014and their work is underpaid, undervalued, and considered unskilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"an
\u201cCommon Threads\u201d (2025), glazed stoneware, 23.6 x 21.7 x 21.7 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Summers taps into ceramics, especially the archetypal vessel motif, to join the ever-evolving continuum of the medium. Throughout millennia and across myriad distinct cultures, the earthen material has found endless applications in the home, industry, and art. \u201cClay has the unique ability to cross the boundaries between functionality, art, craft, class, and culture, and because of this, it is a vital medium to hold stories about humankind,\u201d she says. \u201cI understand clay to be an archive for the stories of humans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s vessels often take on figurative proportions, standing tall on plinths and exhibiting saturated hues, bold patterns, and tactile textures. Some of the pieces crumple, especially toward the top, as if hit with something or caving under some invisible weight. <\/p>\n

The artist\u2019s vessels tread the boundary between form and function and delve into another craft often associated with women\u2019s labor: weaving. She describes how everything from the sheets we sleep on to the carpets we tread across to the clothes on our back can be \u201cextrapolated to speak more broadly about domesticity, women\u2019s work, and racialized spaces in Zimbabwe and the Global South.\u201d She adds:<\/p>\n

\n

Weaving can be used as a wider metaphor for social cohesion\u2014or lack thereof. This predicament is significant in Zimbabwe but is apparent the world over, where women\u2019s work is undervalued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"a
Installation view at Southern Guild, Cape Town. Photo courtesy of Southern Guild<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Next year, Summers embarks on a trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, for a residency at Ceramica Suro<\/a>, where she will learn from local ceramic artists, glassblowers, and weavers. And this October, you\u2019ll be able to see her work at London\u2019s 1-54<\/a>, a fair dedicated to contemporary African art, which runs from October 16 to 19. Explore more on the artist\u2019s website<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a
\u201cWoven Tales Stand Tall\u201d (2022). Photo by Deniz Guzel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
Detail of \u201cWoven Tales Stand Tall.\u201d Photo by Deniz Guzel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
\u201cBy the Pricking of My Thumbs\u201d (2025), glazed stoneware, 39.4 x 27.6 x 27.8 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
a bright yellow, large-scale ceramic vessel with a woven texture and the word \"OK\" repeated in red across the surface
\u201cWorking Class Femininity\u201d (2023), glazed stoneware, 41 x 19.8 x 19.8 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"an
\u201cWeaver\u2019s Woe\u201d (2024,), glazed stoneware, 22.4 x 19.7 x 19.7 inches. Photo by Deniz Guzel <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"a
\u201cOf Woof and Woe\u201d (2024), glazed stoneware, 43.3 x 25.3 x 25.3 inches. Photo by Southern Guild and Hayden Phipps<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"artist
Xanthe Summers in her studio<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Xanthe Summers Weaves Themes of Labor and Visibility in Bold Ceramic Vessels<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cClay is an incredible medium to hold narrative,\u201d says Xanthe Summers, who turns to the medium as a way to explore themes around domesticity, craft, and so-called \u201cwomen\u2019s work\u201d like…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1689\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}