Joel Otterson is a California based artist with more than three decades of experience working across mediums of what he’d like to describe as “from crochet to welding and everything in between”. His work balances camp with seriousness, exploring personal and cultural narratives that are embedded in everyday objects. 

Otterson reimagines Ancient Greek pottery with Voluptuous Desire by transforming its iconic clay vase forms into cast metal frameworks, stripping them of their traditional pictorial narratives. In place of mythological scenes, his sculptures feature ornate lacework patterns reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts movement—a design ethos that emerged in response to the Industrial Revolution and championed skilled and elaborate craftsmanship in domestic objects and furnishings. 

Voluptuous Desire, created during Otterson’s 2018 Arts/Industry residency reflects his ongoing exploration of the intersections between craft, industry, and cultural memory. Since 1974, the Arts/Industry residency program continues to be a collaboration between the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and Kohler Co., which offers emerging and established artists the opportunity to create work using industrial processes and materials inside the Kohler Co. Factory.