User:Chloegabrielle98/sandbox/Jessica Carrington

Jessica Sallay Carrington is a Montreal based sculptor working predominantly with ceramic and clay materials. Their non-binary gender identity and interest in interspecies relations has developed their focus on sculpting human-animal hybrid nude bodies. Sallay Carrington’s sculpture is further identifiable by its preoccupation with non-normative sensuality and sexuality.

=Early life= Jessica Sallay Carrington was born in Vancouver, British Columbia to parents Les Sallay and Michele Carrington. They were raised as female but began questioning gender binarism from a young age. It was not until moving to Montreal that they began to identify with they/them pronouns rather than she/her.

=Artistic career= As a child, Sallay Carrington preferred others to be confused as to her gender rather than being immediately identifiable as a girl. As they grew older, they began to recognise themselves as in-between genders, not willing to abandon feminine characteristics but instead combining them into a gender identity that blurred the line between female and not.

Sallay Carrington moved to Montreal in 2011 to pursue a degree in fine arts at the University of Concordia. It was here that their interest in ceramics began to flourish and they were given an opportunity to fully develop their sculptural style. In 2013, they became a ceramics student technician at Concordia before participating in the Suzy Birstein Ceramic Workshop in Skopelos, Greece. This residency was the first of several travelling residencies. In 2014 Sallay Carrington was elected as the artist in resident at Torpedo Factory Art Centre in Alexandria, USA. In 2016, they took the same position at Main & Station Nonesuch Kickshaw in Parrsboro, Canada before pursuing residencies at the Watershed Centre for the Ceramic Arts in Newcastle, USA, the C.R.E.T.A. in Rome, Italy, and the Tolne Gjaestgivergaard in Denmark. They are currently completing a five month residency on Salt Spring Island, Canada.

As well as their extensive travelling Sallay Carrington has held a positing as a glaze technician at Mosaika Art & Design in Montreal since 2014.

=Collections=

2015-2016: Made in Canada
In this body of work, the feminized anthropomorphic creatures are posed in ways that reveal their pubic and under arm hair, breasts, and genitals. Each sculpture blends human and animal characteristics. The heads are those of animals (birds, rabbits, deer, and a horned horse) while the bodies resemble more human forms. The collection also showcases a graphic sexual interaction between an elk-like creature and a more continuously animal dog who is buried between the other’s legs. This sculpture in particular demonstrates a multi-multi-faceted trans-species interraction in which the two bodies reconfigure notions of predator and prey.

2016: Made in USA
This collection consists of only two pieces. Both are bowls featuring a nude female body with the head of a bird in either a sitting position or laying on its side.

2016: Made in Italy
These sculptures feature mostly pairs of creatures, privileging anthropomorphic sex as Sallay Carrington explores notions of intimacy that are not confined to the hetero human or animal world.

2017: Made in Denmark
The first collection made up exclusively of wall mountings, this series includes four pieces. Two depict a horned rabbit creature sitting back with its legs in the air. The other two feature this same creature crouching, full frontal, with legs spread apart.

2018: Ambrosia Made in Canada
Ambrosia also features solely wall mounted sculptures. The creatures, all sculpted from the waist up, have the heads of animals (a ram, a horned hare, and a wolf) and the bodies of women. Some hold food still or scoop handfuls into their mouths. The two wolf figures each have four arms and hold them behind their heads or around their faces, appearing relaxed.

=Functional= As well as sculpting static sculptures, Sallay Carrington also crafts functional pieces. In 2017, they returned to Canada from a six month trip to Europe. During this nomadic period, they kept a detailed sketch book, outlining their experiences and changing artistic influences while abroad. This journal was published as a book, ART BOOK: My Secrets: Sexplorations and other European Adventures. On their return, they began making “vulva cups.” These mugs are designed custom and feature female genitalia as the lip of the cup. In 2018, Sallay Carrington started making custom tea pots. These are fashioned in the shapes of animals, the mouth of that sculpture serving as the spout of the tea pot.

=Awards= 2013 Outstanding Student Award for Ceramics 430/499, Concordia University

2016 Nonesuch Fellowship for Ceramics, Sculpture and Stonework, Main & Station Residency

2016 Research, Creation and Exploration Grant, Conceil des art des Lettres du Quebec

2018 ATIM's Top 60 Masters of Contemporary Art Award, ArtTour International Magazine

2018 Third place award at Shapes of Influence, Springfield Art Association, Illinois U.S.A.

2018 Grand prize at Glenhyrst Biennial Exhibition, Glenhyrst Art Gallery, Brantford, Canada

=References=

https://www.jessicascreatures.com/new-page-1

https://artaxis.org/jessica-sallay-carrington/

https://graphitepublications.com/artists-of-centerfold-vii-jessica-sallay-carrington/

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1230270019777

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/exhibitionists/pansexual-polyamorous-and-posthuman-jessica-sallay-carrington-s-sculptures-are-smashing-stigmas-1.4655813