Place Holder
Natalie Dotzauer
This May, PUNCH presents new ceramic works by sculptor, mixed-media ninja and salvage art raconteur Natalie Dotzauer. Recently, Dotzauer has been casting urban features of downtown Wenatchee. To make them, she has pressed porcelain clay into architecture features to capture unnoticed, everyday markers which she then fires. These bone-white ceramics have been coupled with knit cockades and fancy textiles to adorn the galley space. For Dotzauer, the collective time spent toiling over and crafting this work, often with the assistance of allies, friends and family injects purpose into the process. As Dotzauer states:
“The hours spent capturing details, or marking the spaces for ceremonial appreciation create tokens, timekeepers, and snap shots of things overlooked life. They are the reasons and place holders of achievement, whimsical reminders of the one-two tempo of holding a space. I do this to keep time, to hold a conversation, for remembrance and release.”
The artist will be present on the opening Saturday, May 6. Rumor has it that DJ Grand Marshall will be spinning a carefully curated playlist for the occasion. But that’s just a rumor. And who believes rumors?
Natalie Dotzauer is an Assistant Professor at Wenatchee Valley College, teaching Sculpture, Drawing, Art Appreciation and other courses. She received her BA in Art from Central Washington University, her MFA from California College of the Arts, and studied wallpaper printing at Penland School of Craft. Her multifaceted works are reminiscent of a bygone era, often with interactive installations that engage viewer participation in multi-sensory experiences, evoking a down-home feel, but with a witty and ironic edge.
