"Linda Hoffhines uses the visually potent image of the vessel, an image with strong psycho-cultural association. Hoffhines literally flattens the vessels, making them more into cartoons of the vessel than actual containers. She makes use of a child's approximations of the way things should look to create these strange vessels, crudely worked with giddy, sometimes dangerous use of color. Imbedded into the pieces at times appears broken fragments of glazed shards and tiny vessel images. Set into concrete, lending a sense of danger to the otherwise childlike rendering of the vessel form. The use of alternate materials denies altogether any respect for craft one would expect from a familiar image so identified with craft. Seen from the side, these flattened forms become an estimation of the familiar vessel form. Resting at times upon small platforms too small to safely sit upon, the vessels take on human characteristics of brave defiance with their arm like handles set in an implacable attitude. The variety of the decorated surface through glazed or imbedded materials at the same time appears festive, creating a dramatic tension repeated again and again in the form of the vessel image."

John Nagus
Assistant Director
Rockford Art Museum