This video is an interview with Deborah Rael-Buckley describing how she creates life-size chair and figure ceramic sculptures layered with meaning and rich symbolism. Each stoneware piece is coil built without the benefit of forms or armature. The sculptures feature branches, bones, ropes, writing, and symbols intertwined to create negative spaces and a play of light and shadow. The elements coalesce into commentary about culture, religion, and family. Deborah Rael-Buckley's sculptural works tell stories of contained memory through a series of figure and chair-based forms layered with what she terms "the taxonomy of memory":
the layering of personal, cultural, historical and biological imagery. Her narrative style shows many influences fueled by research in gothic stained glass, the architecture of Antoni Gaudi and Simon Rodia, Renaissance painting, and the art and architecture of ancient Mexico. She engages viewers by placing them within the construct of her own memories and making them participants in the story being told.
