One of four works for the inaugural exhibition Making Place Matter, marking the grand opening of the Clay Studio’s new South Kensington building opening in April 2022.

This piece explores a new way to use the ceramic object to deconstruct and examine surface pattern in the physical realm. Composed of 45 hand-cast and altered porcelain discs that protrude from the wall in a cascading height. This work deconstructs an 18th century floral pattern and juxtaposes the historic with the contemporary with the treatment of the sides of each disc with a cobalt snakeskin pattern, pushing the viewer to see the imagery in news ways.

Curator Elizabeth Essner writes of Linea:

“Linea, named to "honor the idea of inheritance” Molly Hatch was born into a long line of women artists: her grandmother was a painter, and her mother was a farmer by trade who has maintained a painting practice. A floral textile from the collection of the Cooper Hewitt, lineage unknown, was selected for its resonance with those found in the faded grandeur of her grandmother's home. In Linea, Hatch imposes a kind of grid onto the fabric's wandering flowers. Lifted away from the wall onto circular pillbox forms, they are forced into circular clarity. These are met by blank circles whereby the pattern's absence is reinforced, akin to a family member whose physical presence is long gone but still felt.“

Year: 2022

Materials: 45 hand-cast porcelain discs, hand-painted underglaze, glaze

Dimensions: 45h x 80w x 4d inches