Adelaide Paul, a sculptor, earned her BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics in 1993. Three years later she earned her MFA from Louisiana State University. The main inspiration for her work is animals, due to her strong relationship and love for them. Describing the purpose of her sculptures is further explained by her stating how her work explores, “…the alternately cloying sentimental and brutally callous relationship between humans and animals, both domesticated and wild.”
Paul spent nine years with horses between her high school and college years, so they are often subjects in her artwork.
One interesting thing about her sculptures is her use of material, specifically leather, for the outer layer.
Another subject she focuses on is dogs. Further explanation for this is mentioned in her Artist Statement. “Since the 1940’s, thousands of collies have been bred so that nine transvestite ‘Lassies’ could perpetuate a celluloid myth about a boy and his dog. Collies, Chihuahuas, Dalmatians, Greyhounds and other breeds have, for various market driven reasons, experienced meteoric eruptions in popularity; invariably they have subsequently suffered the consequences.” “In its extremes, American culture posits an alternately cloying sentimental and brutally callous relationship between human and both domesticated and wild animals. Animals are anthromorphized in film, fiction and popular culture. They (and their requisite accessories) are hot commodities; like all commodities, they are also inexorably disposable.”
Besides creating artwork, she also focuses on the study and teaching of animal anatomy. In the year 2004, Paul attended a veterinary anatomy class which changed her way of earning a living and brought out a different aspect in her sculptures. Paul is now employed at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine as a teacher’s assistant in the assistant in the anatomy lab.
http://www.mica.edu/About_MICA/People/Faculty/Faculty_List_by_Last_Name/Adelaide_Paul.html
http://artaxis.org/ceramics/paul_adelaide/adelaide_paul.html
http://www.theclaystudio.org/see/exhibitions/past/paul.php
http://www.pcah.us/fellowships/grants-awarded/grantees-2007-adelaide-paul
http://www.ceramicstoday.com/potw/paul.htm