How Artist Rose B. Simpson Brings Her Sculptures to Life

[Rose] I figured out if I use clay that's very thin, I have to be very present with the process and I have to just do it.

You can't, like, go back and fix it later and, you know, carve stuff down.

It has no... forgiveness, in a sense; it is what it is.

So you have to just be with it.

So now that I started this, I have to finish it today.

This is New Mexico Clay, where I get my clay.

I really like putting different clays together, just as a aesthetic, but also the idea of, like, we're all made up of many different things, and we're trying to understand ourselves and be... you know, compassionate and graceful and accepting of all the many things that we all are.

Because I'm mixed blood, I was always hyper-aware of how I wasn't fitting in.

And as a multicultural two-spirit person, I'm always navigating one foot in two worlds.

[laughs] And so, you know, the clay gets to do that too.