Alyson Brandes • Trader Joe's

Alyson Brandes 
Trader Joe's, 2023 
Stoneware, underglaze, iron slip, glaze 
16 x 12 x 8 in 
40.6 x 30.5 x 20.3

Alyson Brandes is an LA-based artist using clay to establish tender connection to her Mexican American identity within the context of a suburban upbringing overwhelmed with consumerism. Art historical and anthropological studies inform her intentional choice in vessel shape, function, and decoration to elicit a contemporary familiarity to historical artifact. Bare stoneware resonates with the spirit of Mesoamerica, while freehanded imperfections in glaze and slip application echo the warmth of well-loved heirlooms passed down through generations. Each piece, stripped of its utilitarian ease, stands as a testimony to the enduring connection between her art and the mass commodity consumerism intrinsic to suburban life. In this synthesis of personal heritage and commercial critique, her work becomes a deliberate act of reclaiming ancestral connection to a heritage lost to modern assimilation.