Studio Visit | A Return to Cody Hoyt’s Brooklyn Studio
Since we last visited Cody Hoyt, his Brooklyn studio space has doubled, and as it would seems have his ceramic ambitions. When we dropped in he was mid-way through a commission for a large tiled hearth and his signature faceted vessels had also all appear to have grown in scale.
For our new edition with Cody we began by working from digital scans that Hoyt himself made directly on the scanner bed of the surfaces from one of his faceted vases. This new series of floral vessels are a departure for Hoyt, whose forms have typically featured purely abstract, patterned surfaces.
Hoyt’s angular vessels are first created as cardboard prototypes, a process through which he can experiment with different potentials for form and balance. From these cardboard studies, he can create a flat net of the eventual vessel that will provide a guide as he begins to roll out his intricately patterned clay flats. The rolled flats of clay are folded up to form the walls of his vessels; a process that takes literally the idea of surface becoming form.
The patterned surface of the rolled flats are generated through using masonry colors to dye the clay numerous different hues, then either sandwiched together, marbled or sliced up and inlayed together and flatten through the clay roller. The technique of combining separate colors to create a patterned surface is perfectly reflected in the process of color application inherent to silkscreen printing and what initially drew us to want to collaborate with Cody.
Cody Hoyt actually shares a background in printmaking and previously worked for the renowned Gemini G.E.L in Los Angeles. He has since turned his attention to producing work in ceramic and is now an incredibly skillful, self-taught master of the medium. Situated in a fascinating and productive nexus between sculpture, ceramics, furniture and industrial design his studio output is incredibly varied but he is most noted for his patterned vessels.
