Serving as the compelling three-dimensional counterpart to Last Dance, Missing Muse (2025) by Alex Hodge raises an urgent query regarding environmental decay and human preservation. Measuring 10.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches, this three-dimensional ceramic sculpture builds upon an ongoing series in the artist's practice that features sculpted female figures atop narrow, elegant jars. In this iteration, the muse has completely departed, leaving a solitary vessel enveloped in a vivid juxtaposition of carved fiery orange flames and lush green botanical motifs. The absence of the canonical source of artistic inspiration poignantly reflects the dire nature of contemporary ecological and political distress. Hand-built using slab techniques and finished with intricate underglaze painting and relief carving, this free-standing vessel delivers a quiet yet powerful sculptural statement for modern art collections.
The flaming duo of Last Dance and Missing Muse draw attention to our current political and environmental climate. In Missing Muse, I draw from an ongoing series in my practice that features figures, namely women, atop narrow jars. In this iteration, the Muse has departed. As the Muse is canonically a source of inspiration for the Artist, her absence speaks to the dire nature of what we are living through. In juxtaposition with Last Dance, the question is "What will happen to us, once we have destroyed our humanity and our planet?"
The Eat What's on Your Plate series is comprised of wall plates that draw on the history of blue and white pottery as symbols of wealth, elitism and consumerism. The plates beckon the viewer with brash red text reminiscent of Barbara Kruger’s work. The title phrase is a play on words in several capacities, directing the audience to deal with what is at hand, while simultaneously admonishing the act of taking from others. They are all hand built using the slab method, and utilize underglaze painting, carving and transfers.
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Three-Dimensional Ceramic Sculpture - Missing Muse, 2025. By Alex Hodge
Missing Muse, 2025
From Blurb series
Hand-built ceramic sculpture with underglaze painting and hand carving.
Dimensions: 10.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 in
Hodge studied and graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in Ceramics, with notable exhibitions such as Unsung Muses and Eyes That Bind, graduating summa cum laude and receiving honors such as the Outstanding Undergraduate Award. Here, clay became the conduit that allowed her to speak of her experience and, more importantly, her frustrations. Always curious to acquire more knowledge and skills, she pursued a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Miami. There she obtained the summer scholarship and the William Oberman Award, and graduated summa cum laude. During this time, she moved from expressions of anger to prioritizing love between women, the deep well of internal feminine landscapes and the historical exploration of women in relation to the present through ceramic material. Since then, her works have been exhibited at the Morean Arts Center, Arts Benicia and the Imurj Gallery, among others. She currently resides in rural Georgia, where she transforms her stories into sculptures that reveal what has been historically hidden.
