“To reflect the beauty I see, actual and possible, is crucial to my knowing the meaning of my life and the possibilities of my work. To understand and convey my understanding of this is my way of building bridges between forms and ways of being.”
“In my images I see my own raw hopes and fears. I see the despair of dreams that I have from time to time and also the possibilities I have in every new day. The lines I make on paper or the forms in clay are an extension of myself.”
Amani Ansari graduated from Bennington College in December 2007 in Visual Arts with concentrations in ceramics and printmaking.

Miss Ansari reflects in her work her impressions and memories, then develops form to contain and explore those thoughts. Alphabetic structures, anatomical shapes and nature inspire the surface of her mostly abstract images. Dance and language studies inform the physical structures and compositions of her work. She believes that our first visual expressions were representations of our bodies, in particular, of our relationship with the earth and sky. The elemental relationship between man and earth -- and those structures which men and earth create -- is one of great interest to her.

Beauty is found in what is touched by nature and time. Often this beauty is imperfect, damaged, or incomplete as in a remnant or a seed. Wildness, naturalness and mystery are implicit in her handling of the surface. This is the beauty that can be found when one looks at abandoned houses disintegrated by time or a road that is no longer used such as is found deep in the forest. Remnants of pottery or manuscripts often have this quality. Only a piece of what once was, or might be, can be seen. A full view or complete understanding cannot be achieved. Time and nature interact with the material and something unique and surprising is now there to be viewed. This type of beauty is explicitly evident in raku where the fire marks the pot as if lightning has struck and, as with lightning, it does not strike twice in the same way. The fire fuses the elements of the earth itself. Even the straw and snow leave proof of their existence and their relationship to the earthenware. Under glaze, as if under water, the ashes mark the surface of one Ansari vase. The surface shines smooth to the touch. Deep grey streaks vein the embedded lower surface bearing evidence of a winter kiln. The shards of black, once careful calligraphy, now broken bits as from a branch or ash speckle the surface-scape as pebbles in a riverbed or late-fallen leaves on snow. Splotches of blue-greens and olives reflect sky and evergreen on stone. The intentional forms of wintery impressions were changed by the very nature of the clay, glaze, and the raku process. It takes the mind’s eye to a visual impression from nature. These organic interactions between Miss Ansari’s creative intentions and the very physicality of the material compel her the most.
Whether working on paper or in clay her work is affected by the visual culture of her Jerusalem upbringing – the manuscript calligraphies, the decorative motifs on embroideries or tiles, the stones, the wiry plants that manage to grow out of those stones, the ragged outline of the city or the olive trees against the darkening sky – these missed images come through regardless of the medium she works in.
Miss Ansari finds deep meaning in visually contemplating these ancient shapes which have changed over time. She wants her life work to be inside of these ideas, to be true to them and to learn how to share them with others.

A dancer with the Equine Dance Company, she is currently dancing fulltime in New York City while she prepares for graduate school in ceramic sculpture.

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