Hi my name is Cody Murphy and I am an art junkie. My work is about the frustration and tension that we all feel inside and we cope. I was a late bloomer compared to others, when I was younger I was a troubled kid whether I was not following rules or not paying attention teachers did not like me. Besides the troubles my family was having, add my personal struggles combined with feelings of isolation and I had even started looking at other schools. In 2009 I took my first real Ceramics class, not like a class you take at camp or in middle school, I was a high school freshmen. I had felt like I had finally found something that I could do and it could keep me busy, and the best part, I was good at it too. Through sophomore year I had started looking into colleges to apply to, there were two big names on my list Cranbrook academy and College for creative studies. So I started working on my portfolio getting ready for a day to apply. Junior year 2011 came around and it wasn’t great, but among the things that happened was that I had made the rank of eagle, I couldn’t be more proud of myself. Than partway through that year I was expelled from high school and blacklisted from any other school in Michigan, I interviewed at schools plenty but none could see reason to give me a chance. So I did what anybody else would do I kept building my college portfolio, I worked some odd jobs around Michigan and traveled to craft fairs and stores, one time I spent seven hours by the shore of lake Michigan (for a band audition), I had told my parents  that I was “going to the park”. 2012 finally came it was my chance to go to CCS and It was the only school that I applied to. I had entered my freshman classes and it was clear I was the most behind of all the students. Teachers didn’t believe me when I said “I’ve never drawn before” or going into an English class and being expected to write a five page paper, when I had hardly written more than a few pages in high school. Everybody had a year of experience on me but I still pushed through. Yet the facilities made up for it all, I had finally had a place to work again, and keep my stuff and fire in huge kilns. Sophomore and junior year were big times of experimentation for me, I had been experimenting with cast process and wheel and slab building. As much as I enjoyed this, I never truly felt satisfied. So decided to go back to my roots and coil build large pots, I had come into college coiling and was going to continue pinching, rolling, and coiling. Senior year had me excited yet one little detail there was a new director of the department, my mentor had taken his sabbatical and a lot was about to change. All the studio rules were to be followed, and my process and way of working needed to modified, this created challenges but like any sculpture, I overcame the problem. It was time to set up for the student exhibition opening, I originally had an idea for pile of raw clay would weigh around 1000 pounds and stretch across the floor, but I didn’t get the spot that I needed so the idea was scrapped. I continued to fire and my largest work yet was being developed pieces like “Afraid to sleep” and “crazy dreams” were so large that myself and a team of people would wheel them through the double doors at the back of the studio, around to the kiln yard, than lifted over the fence (as it was too small) and shimmy the work into the kiln. I had gradually hauled all this work up to the showroom and it was a backbreaking labor of love. The spot I was given for the show was by the fire escape and I was told I would need to have at least 5 feet of free space around the exit, so after a little bartering for other spots, I got the best spot I could right in the middle of the backroom of the show. After days of editing and rearranging where the work would be I was ready to show to all of Detroit what I had accomplished. It was too big to fail; my work could be seen from the first entrance and the second entrance. The night was raging and I was the only senior by my work and then I met the man Scotty Myers , he had instantly connected with my work and somehow with ever meeting me my attitude. I was wearing a purple paisley coat and a guitar tie. Though my work has gone through many stages and “phases” I still have an immense fascination with the vessel and its somatic representations. This is where I’m at today, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.