Avery Clouse

Artist Statement

I have always hated being called an artist, I didn’t grow up drawing or painting and I never enjoyed “arts and crafts”. Something I have struggled with is mental health and how to quiet the noise of the outside world. Metal casting and metallurgy allow me to take the noise and craziness I feel and turn it into an external force I can control. Through my art, I take a world I struggle to comprehend and turn it into a single moment, frozen in time. The ability to sculpt my “tragedies” allows me to put all unspoken emotions into my work. This creates depth and meaning within my work and allows me to walk away from the past, leaving a beautiful piece of art in its place. Art has not only taken over my life but become a vital part of my healing process.

A major part of my work is the process of lost wax casting. Wax maintains a high level of detail and can even capture fingerprints in the final result. Wax work demands that every movement is intentional. I find enjoyment in how personal you can be with each movement and stroke you make. The focus needed to engage wax creates a space where only my artwork exists.

Artist Bio

Avery Clouse is a Metal Caster and Sculptor born in Germany in October of 2000. Avery studied for a B.F.A. in Sculpture from 2018 to 2024 at Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, Colorado. She has been a part of the National Juried Exhibition and Student Cupola Contest at Sloss Furnaces in Birmingham, Alabama. Alongside her Undergraduate Professor Araan Schmidt, she completed the performance pour “Ore V” in 2023 NCCCIAP and a commissioned Public Installation for a local elementary school in 2023. Currently, Avery is focused on creating a portfolio for Graduate School.

In middle school, everyone took art, computers, and Spanish classes. Avery went in another direction and decided instead of gym she would take weightlifting and instead of art she would take woodshop. She was hands-on and wanted to build but it wasn’t until she saw molten lava-like Iron that she felt at home. Avery didn’t understand how the furnaces worked or exactly what the molds were, but she felt this would be a passion that would shape her life forever. She believes her favorite part of the art world is the community that surrounds you. She says, "They help you with your big and crazy ideas, spending all night dipping 50-pound ceramic shells, installing last-second shows, playing pranks to pass the time, taking care of you when you can’t yourself, and always having advice whether you ask or not. These are the people who taught her family is not always blood and they became the reason “home” wasn't a place with four walls anymore".