Your Lipstick Left a Bruise, Your Pulsing Giant Heart, Carry the Song, Triptych

Your Lipstick Left a Bruise, Your Pulsing Giant Heart, Carry the Song, 2019 Trpitych
From the series Fragments of Our Love Story
Porcelain cup with sgraffito detailing
Overall size: 5 x 9 x 3 inches.
Individual size: 5 x 3 x 3 inches.

“Your lipstick left a bruise..” Your lipstick left a bruise on my wrist. I tried to wipe it away, but my pulse is still thumping. The honey on your tongue left me sticky. Sweating sugar from my pores. My heart.. 

“Your pulsing giant heart..” Your pulsing giant heart bringing you to your knees. Praying while you pull it out. Shove it into the earth and let it be home. May flowers grow where the emptiness lives.

“Carry the song..” Carry the song of my breath to your chest. And you will call me back. And like this we will find one another. No matter how lost we may be. I won’t give up. 

This cup is one of 48 that make up the installation, “Fragments of Our Love Story.” These cups feature feminine forms which recall the Venus of Willendorf and other historical fertility objects The carvings include many of the artist’s own writings and flow from one cup to another. Just as we hold each other’s stories in pieces and parts, the cups now exist throughout time and space, with many collectors. No two have the exact same words, making each unique in body, color, and content.

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Alex Hodge was always drawn to the arts and regularly channeled her creativity as a child whether in watercolor classes or scrapbooking with her mother. She attended the University of Georgia and received her BFA in Ceramics in order to learn the ways of coaxing clay. While at UGA, Hodge had her first solo exhibition, Unsung Muses, in addition to her BFA show, Eyes That Bind. She graduated summa cum laude along with other honors, such as the Outstanding Undergraduate Award and Mary Rosenblatt Scholarship. After graduation, she spent the summer as the Ceramics Instructor for URJ Camp Coleman, where she realized her potential as a teacher. She then pursued her MFA at the University of Miami, where she has received the MFA Summer Fellowship as well as the William Oberman Award. She will graduate summa cum laude after the conclusion of her thesis exhibition In Light of Her. She continues to pursue teaching as the Camp Manager and Instructor for Clay Camp at the Ceramic League of Miami and as an adjunct faculty at the University of Miami. Though she naturally finds a place in teaching, it is her studio work that is the driving force of her existence.