Constance McBride – In Conversation

Philadelphia-born ceramic sculptor Constance McBride has garnered acclaim for her emotive, hand-built forms and the thematic depth driving her body of work. Now based in the Brandywine Valley of Chester County, Pennsylvania, Constance McBride translates personal experiences into introspective pieces that reveal the harshness and the resilience of the human experience. Influenced by southwestern pottery traditions during a 16-year residency in Phoenix, Arizona, she brings a contemplative tone to her sculptures, pastels, and mixed-media installations. Through images of cycles, untidiness, and metamorphosis, Constance McBride’s creations confront misogyny, ageism, and the lingering echoes of memory loss to reframe society’s perspectives on women.

Her first invitational show was in Phoenix, “The show was Silver Blue with Eric Cox at R. Pela Contemporary Art.” She recalls, “It was special because I had only been on the scene there for five years and doing juried group shows up until then and Robrt (Pela) featured my ceramic sculpture; a medium I had only been working with since 2006.”

The Clay Connection

Pastels were Constance McBride’s first medium, “I’ve done figurative works on paper for a long time. I’ve also recently put some time into creating Mixed Media Collage for a change of pace”. But the clay is what resonates with her. It was during her years in Arizona that her fascination with the tactile material quickly became an obsession. She explains, “I fell in love with clay the minute I touched it. It became addictive to me. I enjoy the meditative process of hand building and the tactile feel of it in my hands.”

The joys of hand-building spoke to her innate curiosity, while the cultural significance of southwestern pottery traditions inspired her to explore ancestral techniques in a contemporary context. She began creating installations in 2018 as an extension of her clay work.

Constance McBride’s singular approach to ceramics integrates found materials such as wire, bits of nature, and fabric, accentuating the rawness of her sculptures. By applying graphite, stains, or wax, she emphasizes the flesh-like texture of her figures, capturing life’s complexities and championing authenticity over polished perfection.

Constance McBride: Themes and Influences

For Constance McBride, each piece is a direct engagement with pressing issues faced by women—from corporate sexism to marginalization in the art world. She admires artists like Camille Claudel, “Her work was superior yet a horrific hand in life was dealt to her.” Edvard Munch, “I was drawn in by the anguish and realized it was ok to go there with my work.” Tip Toland, “A favorite mentor working with figurative clay sculpture. Her work continues to inspire me”.

Francis Bacon, Mary Cassatt, Frida Kahlo, and a host of other artists are a source of inspiration for their willingness to delve into anguish, defy convention, or embrace the figure during times of abstract expressionism’s dominance. This admiration resonates in her practice, weaving empathy into bold artistry.

McBride’s narratives also confront memory loss, an aspect she interprets through melancholic motifs and fleeting recollections embedded in clay. Whether through pastel drawings or meticulously arranged installations, her artistry highlights a broader dialogue about women’s resilience across time.

Constance McBride: Crafting Purposeful Dialogue

Harnessing nature’s rhythms to guide her concepts, Constance McBride perceives cycles—youth, adulthood, aging—as universal portals to discuss liberation and constraint. Her works frequently fuse figurative forms with nature’s detritus, forming metaphors for the synergy between existence and renewal.

She states, “I get my inspiration from nature’s rhythms and depict the cycle of life with reverence while acknowledging the untidiness of living. And I tend to throw light on issues experienced by women—harassment, marginalization, ageism, etc. Simultaneously, women struggle to remain relevant, take care of their health, and maintain financial stability. And like most women, I’ve had firsthand experience with a lot of it; from finding my way as a young single mother to having spent over a quarter century in the corporate world, to navigating the art world later in life.”

While acknowledging the disorder inherent in human life, Constance McBride employs each sculpture as a launching pad for reflection on survival, power structures, and empathy. “I’m interested in the recurring interplay between liberation and constraint, a tension that has been ongoing throughout time, and support a purposeful dialogue about the roles and perceptions of women in contemporary society.” McBride concludes, “My uncompromising figures are hand built and at times include bits of nature, found objects, fabric, and wires. I apply surface treatments such as graphite or stains and wax to emphasize the textures and characteristics of living, breathing skin. Drawing from nature’s energy, I want to generate new spaces for regeneration and resilience.”

As she continues to create, McBride’s vision remains anchored by the desire to carve out spaces for healing and to generate deeper conversations around the experiences that shape women worldwide.

Follow Constance McBride on social media and visit her official website to stay current with her work.