a statement

There are so many objects in the world. Why add more?

Yet, I have come to know I am a maker and a builder.

Making allows me to be with the fullness of living on this planet now.

Through this process, I have access to a kind of cellular memory.

I am a sculptor currently hand-building clay vessels that use my body as a reference point.

I feel my body as a sort of container. I am interested in the relationship of inside/outside; of inside/out.

I am inspired by pattern and natural forms, the ingenuity of indigenous dwellings, stupas; and the timeless landscape of New Mexico.

My recent work includes a group based on the Baobab trees of Madagascar, Africa, and Australia. I wish to pay homage to these ancient mother succulents that have an amazing capacity to store water and create eco-systems for their surrounds. Baobabs inhabited Earth long before humans. In a sense, they have witnessed our becoming.

When I work, there is a tension created between my original intention and the clay form that wants to emerge.

Baobabs provide a starting point for emotional grounding and my continuing exploration of clay and the possibilities of form.

BIO

Lindsay Iliff received her BFA in Sculpture from Boston University's School of Fine Arts in 1976. 

There she created life-size figures out of metal-and-wood armatures and clay.

During a brief relocation to Iowa City following graduation, Iliff was deeply affected by the 

performance of Merce Cunningham and his Dance Company.

Living in NYC in the late seventies and early eighties, she attended classes at the newly founded Feminist Art Institute and served as prop assistant to Carolee Shneemann in her performance, Swing. 

In the city, Lindsay worked as a model-maker for a display company, cutting sheets of plexiglass. Collecting those scraps, and a wealth of discarded treasures on the streets of the garment district; after hours she constructed wall hangings and small sculptures.

By 2001, Iliff had responded to the call of New Mexico and returned to studio practice. She has worked in various mediums: painting, encaustic, collage, and cardboard, as well as clay.

Her work has been shown at Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM, the NM Art League's exhibit, "Biologique," in Albuquerque, and, in 2018, group shows at City of Mud and Keep Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM.