Eye Lounge is pleased to present Safety Zone, works by Amy Sansbury Manning in clay and other media. The ceramic wall pieces in this exhibition extract motifs from the built environment such as telephone poles, streetlights, utilities, and road signs. They are reflected and rotated to create symmetrical patterns inspired by the geometric designs of Islamic tile work and the rosettes of Talavera tiles. These works consider where pattern breaks down and becomes uneasy.

The symbols that signify safety also inevitably say danger, and order necessarily implies control. The traffic cone is an epitome of this safety/danger doubling, and sculptures of this common object in different media explore some of our emotional reactions to constraint. A warning can spark both hypersensitivity to potential hazards and joyful rebellion. Safety Zone invites viewers to consider the boundaries between order and disorder. 

Amy Sansbury Manning lives and works in Phoenix, Arizona. She exhibits her work locally, regionally, and nationally. Past projects include cardboard machinery, mixed-media textiles, and a public art installation for the City of Scottsdale. In 2017, she received an Eric Fischl Vanguard award. She is an Artlink Articipant and has been a member of the Eye Lounge collective since 2019. 

Traffic Cones, 2021
11” x 13” x 1.25”
Clay, glaze, underglaze