Today we’d like to introduce you to Audrey Higa.
Hi Audrey, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m was born and raised in Orange County, California. Both of my parents are from Kailua, Hawaii, and growing up, I spent my summers there. The Hawaiian mentality, with its focus on community, was a big part of my upbringing. I try to carry on Native Hawaiian practices in my everyday life and it always seeps into my work. As for my artistic practice, I’ve been working primarily in sculpture for the last five years, but I have a background in traditional oil painting. I received my BFA from Cal State Fullerton in 2016 with a concentration in drawing and painting. I am currently an MFA candidate at Cal State Northridge.
Today, I’m leaning into working with found materials and clay. I’m deeply drawn to the community surrounding ceramic practices, and it’s felt like my home for the last few years. There is something deeply primitive and instinctual in clay and fiber. My work attempts to bridge the space between my ancestral past and my experience living in the fervor of contemporary society.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I’ve been lucky in that I have always known what I wanted to do and the kind of person I wanted to be. I felt a natural drive towards creating things from a young age. I am fortunate to have an insatiable hunger for learning how to make objects and seeing metaphors and poetry in the world around me. My path has meandered, and I dealt with some major setbacks due to my health and severe bouts of depression, but all of my suffering only made my capacity for joy greater.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
My work addresses the relationships between personal belongings and human experience. I am forming these connections with fiber, ceramics, plastic, metal, resin, and discarded material. The objects I create are worn by the impact of their memories and chaos of modern life. By incorporating the performative practices associated with femininity, I am challenging societal norms and values associated with gender while embracing the practices I have inherited from your mother and grandmother. I am exploring the intersection of memory and the ephemeral nature of objects in contemporary society.
Pricing:
- Spam – 600
- Shroud- 1300
- Long Walk Home – 800
- Mother Pressure Lovers Delay – 800
- Exalted – 900
Contact Info:
- Website: https://audreyhiga.wixsite.com/work
- Instagram: @lumpytreestumpy
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