Cipher Image Gallery
Press
"Many people say that artwork "speaks" to them because it connects in a personal way, touching on an emotion or a memory, but viewers of Shalya Marsh's ceramics can say this and mean it - her art is formed and arranged in code..."
"The word "cipher" has multiple meanings, one of which is "the key to a secret method of writing." It's not hard to see how it relates to Marsh's project, since her goal is to have people unlock messages through code. She's equally interested, however, in another definition of cipher: "Something of no value or importance." Her use of this meaning is a reference to the fact that language has no value when its deprived of its context..."
MATTHEW PARRISH | Williamsport Sun Gazette
January 3rd 2010
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Semantics Image Gallery
Artist Statement
My work expresses the intrinsic limitation that language places on communication, engendering playful, contemporary systems of signs and symbols that represent the inadequacy of language to truly convey meaning. I reference medieval illuminated manuscripts, ancient cuneiforms, and primitive accounting systems known as tokens, juxtaposing those archaic systems of recording information with modern codes and ciphers such as binary and Morse.
I am encoding information to show the inaccessibility of all language and communication; creating new systems of signs and symbols that are equally as inadequate as language at conveying our true meaning.
My pieces create a means of communication as nonsensical as our everyday use of the English language to express our needs, desires and emotions. The information being conveyed through these codes, including simple pangrams and whimsical definitions, are equally nonsensical. The transfer of language to symbols, movements, and impressions aid the viewer in making connections between (written word and code) spoken word and sound.
Shalya Marsh | 2010
Kits and Sets
Process
All of these forms are hand built from red earthenware clay by pinching, coiling, and slab constructing. These primitive methods facilitate the intuitive process and immediacy of creating while in direct contact with the material. The pieces are surfaced using earth pigments and slips in order to draw out the details. These techniques, while simple, offer an extensive vocabulary of form, texture, and color.