This series is the culmination of a semester of work done under my teacher, Elaine Quave. In it, I use art history to bring life and realism to a fantasy world and the narrative that takes place within it: Spellbound, my fictional writing project of five years. My ceramic pieces create a connection between myself, the viewer, my story, and history all at once. They involve an aspect of placing not only my viewer, but also myself into this world. At the same time, they are a retrospective. I have a deep affection for the past cultures of the world; the why and how of art and creation, and the cultural influences that lead to both stylistic differences and repeated similarities across time and space. Their ideas and beliefs are one of my biggest inspirations for writing and imagining. My collection of five vessels, a sculpture, and a wall plaque are displayed along with written plaques arranged in a timeline. This layout mimics a museum, casting my pieces as real uncovered artifacts for an observer to piece together into a story. It allows me to merge my passion for creative writing with my art, as well as fill in some of the narrative gaps and by providing context to the lore surrounding the artifacts. Ultimately, I aim to connect to people with me and my own interests. I— maybe a bit selfishly— want people to feel what I feel. I think it’s born from that initial passion I have for my ideas. Of course I care about them more than anything, and of course they consume most of my life. But if a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? If I create and can’t connect, is it enough? I create for myself, yes, but I also create to be seen. I need my audience to consume with the same fervor I do. I need to inspire the same drive to create that I’ve always felt. Spellbound is something that is incredibly real to me, and my goal is to make it just as real to other people by using ceramic to replicate art historical styles in a conglomerate way. Basing fantasy in an element of realism grounds the viewer and brings them closer to a narrative through the basis of familiarity. Throughout human history, ceramic has served as a vessel for human connection, and now in the present I’m able to draw from thousands of years of art history to take something fictional and immerse my viewer in it by giving it a strong and evocative basis. My work exists in the hope that through this connection, someone will care even a fraction of as much as I do.