Rebecca Lenetsky
Biography
Rebecca is a ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico, exploring the connection between art, emotion, mental health, and healing. Within a society where mental health is largely disregarded and ignored, she brings awareness to the importance of self-expression. She creates abstract sculptural forms to tap into the unconscious and subconsc
Rebecca is a ceramic artist from Santa Fe, New Mexico, exploring the connection between art, emotion, mental health, and healing. Within a society where mental health is largely disregarded and ignored, she brings awareness to the importance of self-expression. She creates abstract sculptural forms to tap into the unconscious and subconscious mind, exposing her emotions and allowing the clay to guide her when creating her forms.
Being a survivor of trauma. loss, and addiction, she aims to encourage dialogue about personal struggles and the importance of connection and communication to support herself and others to express themselves through art. Her work was recently shown at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in a 2023 pop-up exhibition, Polarity. She h
Being a survivor of trauma. loss, and addiction, she aims to encourage dialogue about personal struggles and the importance of connection and communication to support herself and others to express themselves through art. Her work was recently shown at the Institute of American Indian Art (IAIA) in a 2023 pop-up exhibition, Polarity. She has served as Treasurer of the IAIA Ceramics Club. She received a bachelor's in fine arts with an emphasis in ceramics at IAIA in December 2024. Once she has completed her baccalaureate degree, Lenetsky plans to pursue a master's degree in art therapy.
Artist's Statement
Artist's Statement
As a ceramic artist who communicates experiences attuned to the impact of mental health, I expose the internal struggles of living with mental illness and healing as a result of years of trauma, addiction, and depression. Utilizing hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, I manipulate the form by shaping and distorting the clay, allow
As a ceramic artist who communicates experiences attuned to the impact of mental health, I expose the internal struggles of living with mental illness and healing as a result of years of trauma, addiction, and depression. Utilizing hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques, I manipulate the form by shaping and distorting the clay, allowing the material to guide me until an organic shape is achieved. I fire my work in a saggar, creating an intimate process where the clay surface is exposed to combustible materials like banana peels and copper carbonate, leaving behind beautiful, chaotic, and unpredictable marks. The alternative firing process of sagar is a metaphor for the chaos and unpredictability of mental illness, addiction, and trauma. In addition, this imparts an organic, natural quality to the pieces. reflecting the challenges and growth people encounter in their healing journey and the continuous pursuit of well-being in the future.