Candy Lady: C.26-2020

Titles

Candy Lady

Maker(s)

Artist: Corbett, Shawanda

Entities

• Vessel
• Vase

Categories

• Stoneware
• Studio Ceramics

Description

Stoneware, thrown (upside down) in sections and joined, painted underglaze, with encapsulated stain and gold lustre

Stoneware vessel, thrown (upside down) in sections and joined. Alternating sections of gold lustre and swirling dark brown, painted underglaze with encapsulated stain.
Raised foot of brown and gold lustre, widening to bulbous body with spiral brown decoration with obvious throwing lines, narrowing to gold lustre shoulders, topped by a final section with more brown spiral decoration.

Notes

History note: Shawanda Corbett, Oxford; Corvi-Mora Gallery, 1a Kempsford Road, London, SE11 4NU, from whom purchased with the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum Fund.

Legal notes

Acquired with the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum Fund

Place(s) associated

• Oxford ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (2020-06-11) by Corvi-Mora Gallery

Dating

21st Century, Early
Production date: AD 2020

Note

Corbett (b. 1989) is an interdisciplinary artist who creates abstract paintings, ceramics, poetry and performance. Born without legs and with only one hand, Corbett’s work reflects her perspective as a woman of colour with a disability and often addresses notions of what constitutes a ‘complete body’. Raised between Mississippi and New York, Corbett is pursuing a practice-led doctoral degree in Fine Art at Ruskin School of Art and Wadham College, University of Oxford.

The decoration of each piece is the result of movement and dance – Corbett improvised the painting on this piece and C.27-2020 while listening and dancing to ‘Part 3: Pursuance’ from John Coltrane’s 1965 album, 'A Love Supreme'.

This vessel is a companion to C.27-2020. They were exhibited together in Corbett’s first solo exhibition, 'Neighbourhood Garden', held at Corvi-Mora Gallery, London (16 June - 31 July 2020). This exhibition comprised works on paper and ceramics that capture the individual personalities of local people from Corbett’s Mississippi neighbourhood, whom she encountered throughout her childhood. These works aimed to move past common ‘tropes’ of African American characters, instead giving dignity and humanity to people often ignored or reduced to stereotypes. The work was produced in pairs; one piece suggesting the appearance of a character, the other, their personality. The amount of lustre on each piece is representative of the status of the character in Corbett’s eyes.