hello hello!
My name is Kenni Zipf, welcome to my website. Read below for my Artist's Statement.
With all my larger sculptures, I meditate with the clay, slowly coil-building them up just a third of an inch at a time. The process is quiet and methodical. Whether life size, miniature, or somewhere in between, though not all of them are based on my own figure, I recognize the curves and folds and where they should lie. I use the familiarity of my own body to intrinsically feel how the sculpture should continue. I use photographs of my models to be accurate to their bodies, but I use knowledge of my own as a touchstone.
In some of my work, I utilize earthenware clay in skin tones. When I photograph my models, I match their skin to a clay test to be as accurate in their representation as possible. When the figures are fired, some I polish with a fragrant mixture of beeswax, and olive, coconut, and rose oils. It soothes my dry hands at the same time it gives my figures a soft, skin-like glow.
My little fat figures are decorated with jewelry of color. The mottled glazes dance about their skin, reminiscent of tattooed body artwork or colorful clothing. I love sculpting with a direct representation of real skin tones, but this colorful decoration of fat bodies is something I want to explore further, along with the supernatural additions I have been experimenting with. My fairy and other little winged figures are the first examples of a new approach I am taking, but they are the first of many.
Through presenting my work, I have learned that the main thing people notice about them is their fatness. While that attention was my objective, I want to move forward with this idea rather than continue to focus on fatness on its own. I want to create fat figures that are more than just compelling because of their fatness, but rather striking through details that command attention to more than just the body itself.
In exhibiting my work, I witnessed its effect on people who recognized themselves in my figures. People are most affected by art in which they can find themselves. I want to continue to impact people with my work. I want to continue adding to the diversity in figure sculpture. My goal is to create work that honors a myriad of different bodies, to create work that will let us be represented in art throughout history.
And selfishly, like many artists, I make work that heals me. Yes, my goal is to help people in bigger bodies feel represented and honored through my work. But deep down, I know that I’m making it for my 10-, 13-, 17-year-old selves who desperately needed it. I know there are other people out there who experience the same self-turmoil; if my work does anything, I hope it plants a seed of healing in them too.