Influenced by blue and white Chinese and European porcelain, Coille Hooven makes fantastical and whimsical works. “I liken my work to dream interpretation,” she wrote. “It is both literal and symbolic, intended to invoke a feeling that lingers. The shoe is a shoe, but it is also an animal, a vehicle, and a stage for the play within.” The real power of Hooven’s work is her ability to make interiority—a typically feminine and private concern—visible. She explores issues of gender inequality, domestic spaces, work, and motherhood, visualizing these concepts from the unconscious in clay.