“If Evelyn Could Jump the Ditch, I Knew I Could Too” by Courtney Wilson, 2025, glazed and painted terracotta, 29x23x2.
ABOUT THIS PIECE
“This work has been the catalyst of a new body of work. I found a photo of my grandmother on a motorcycle in the ’70s. I had remembered in our visits her telling me about that day many times. I distinctly recall her telling me, ‘If Evelyn could jump the ditch, I knew I could, too.’ I started this series modeled after the Italian Renaissance della Robbia workshop’s ceramic sculptures. They were often in high relief and made to elevate biblical figures. This is my attempt to elevate not only this memory, but also memorialize my grandmother.”
ABOUT THE SERIES
“My sculpture work is a study of personal histories and their modern interpretations. Utilizing terracotta clay, I am exploring how a family history can be altered in the lens of a new generation and the disconnection between memories and the story originally imparted. Is there a sense of nostalgia, disdain or comfort? What parts of the story do we carry on and choose to continue to share, or which fragments are chosen to be left behind by time?
“By integrating Renaissance forms and compositions of biblical figures, this work aspires to elevate the stories of my own familial heroes and memorialize a memory. They are made through a combination of low and high relief on individual intricate tiles. The images depicted are based on personal family photos and altered to visualize my interpretation of it in our contemporary setting. My work seeks to primarily elevate my own matriarchal heroes and start conversation around how we choose to remember those in our own personal lives.”
ARTIST BIO
Courtney Wilson is a sculptor from Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Her sculpture aims to connect historical narratives and create conversation around lost community value. By looking to the past and assessing the present, her work questions the political, economic and social histories forming our communities.
Wilson graduated in 2024 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with her BFA in ceramics. She has attended Penland School of Craft in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, for the past two years as a winter resident and attended Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, Pennsylvania, in 2024 as a fall resident.
Wilson is a recipient of the 2024 ArtLAUNCH Grant, of which all recipients will have their work on display at the Windgate Center of Art + Design in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery beginning in May. This fall, she will be featured in a two-person show at Ouachita Baptist University alongside sculptor Michael Warrick and have a solo show at ASU Beebe.
See more of Weeks’ work locally at The Showroom, online at loriweeksart.com and on Facebook and Instagram at @loriweeksart.