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| The Jesse Edwards exhibition of seven mold-cast television sets at Gordon Woodside/John Braseth Gallery (www.woodsidebrasethgallery.com) in Seattle, Washington, was an auspicious solo debut for the 30-year-old artist. Educated in art history at Seattle Central Community College and Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, Edwards studied ceramics privately for four months in 2005, learning sufficient technical details. Prior to that, he studied at another local art school, the Gage Academy of Fine Art for four years. The school’s concentration is on realistic representational art.
Given those credentials, there is a refreshing but understandable technical crudity. Glazes were applied at first like oil paint until Edwards discovered the smoother airbrush; any appearance to earthy ceramics is entirely avoided when possible. Instead, the gallery was filled with seven wall-mounted cast-white earthenware facsimiles of a portable 1970s-era Zenith portable television the artist found at Goodwill. Upon each TV screen is an image from Edwards’ imaginary cable-TV networks. The results are a series of wry commentaries on popular culture, old movies, art history, recent terrorist attacks, and, in general, the endless commercials on cable that are periodically interrupted by programs of “cultural interest.” |
| John Chalke and Barbara Tipton |
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| Concurrent solo exhibitions by artists John Chalke and Barbara Tipton are on display January 17–19 at Willock & Sax Gallery (www.willockandsaxgallery.com) in Banff National Park, in Alberta, Canada.
“The exhibition includes place settings and wall pieces by Tipton and explorations in glaze and form by Chalke,” said Susan Sax-Willock. “Chalke has taught at art schools and universities throughout his career, but the main focus of his energy has always been his studio, where he creates enigmatic, ambiguous clay objects and has an alchemical relationship with glazes. Tipton’s life revolves around thinking, writing, editing and making ceramics. She makes a wide variety of ceramic work, including utilitarian vessels and sculptural pieces.”
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| “Collect,” a 25th anniversary selling exhibition, is on display through January 19 at the Craft Centre and Design Gallery (www.craftscentreleeds.co.uk). The exhibition will feature four prolific ceramics artists—Gabriele Koch, Morgen Hall, Walter Keeler and Duncan Ross—who have exhibited at the Craft Centre in the past.
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| Wood-Fired Elegance: The Work of Donna Craven |
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| “Wood-Fired Elegance: The Work of Donna Craven,” an exhibition of new work by Seagrove, North Carolina, potter Donna Craven, is on display through March 29 at the North Carolina Pottery Center (www.ncpotterycenter.com) in Seagrove. The exhibition features large richly ash-glazed vessel forms balanced by beautifully restrained incised and faceted surfaces.
The work is created by wheel, coil and paddle using a one inch extruded coil of commercial stoneware clay. Surface alterations, flashing slips, crackle slips and glass runs are used in combinations often with a sprayed ash celadon glaze. “I am challenged by each piece to create a continuity between the thrown form and the surface,” explained Craven. “Working on the wheel completely engages me. Then, creating those optical accents on the piece, while labor intensive and time consuming, absorbs me and makes the form come to life.”
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| “Esther Stasse: Ceramics,” an exhibition of recent work by the Dutch artist, is on display through January 5–27 at Gallery Carla Koch (www.carlakoch.nl) in Amsterdam. The artist will be present on January 5 for the exhibition’s opening.
“Esther Stasse’s work consists of cast elements. At times she uses these elements individually,” Koch explained. “In most cases, however, she creates objects by stacking or combining various shapes. She often takes stacking of elements to such extreme that her objects seem to defy the laws of gravity. Stasse perfectly masters her technique: molds can be reused and she uses the moldings to combine simple or complex structures at will. Stasse’s work is increasingly turning more silent and introverted. Even colors have disappeared; she now exclusively uses black.”
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| “Adrian Arleo: New Work,” which featured Arleo’s latest work in both clay and bronze, was on display recently at Grover Thurston Gallery (www.groverthurston.com) in Seattle, Washington.
“My overall conceptual concern, in creating pieces that deal with the figure, does not stem from a fascination with the construction and problem-solving process,” Arleo explained. “Nor is it just the beauty of the human form that holds me. What continues to absorb me is how, by rendering the physical body, one can convey, or at least suggest, a remarkable array of non-physical, internal, ephemeral, spiritual, emotional or psychological experiences.”
“Of all the features of the body, it is the face that most intrigues and challenges me. During the twenty years that I’ve worked with the figure, the faces have moved steadily from vagueness toward increasing specificity and recognizability. The eyes, when I was starting out, were undefined; they have since evolved from being closed, to being downward turned, to being open and forthrightly gazing.”
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| “Consider the Cup” was on display recently at The Artisan Gallery (www.theartisangallery.com) in Northampton, Massachusetts. The first ceramic cup and mug invitational held at the gallery, the exhibition featured the work of 42 artists choosen by jurors Hayne Bayless and Sam Taylor.
“Take a moment to consider that cup. That one right in front of you,” said Bayless in his juror’s statement. “Maybe you’ve just bought it and added it to your collection. Or think about an old favorite at home; perhaps an intimate part of your breakfast ritual or after-dinner coffee.
“If your appreciation was initially its appearance, consider the potter’s aesthetic decisions: shape, size, proportion, color and decoration...All were derived from the decision of the potter. The comforting shape and feel of the piece is a result of years of study and caring. The shape and thickness of the lip that makes it easy to enjoy your drink takes us well beyond decisions and into technical facility.” |
| Works by Jean Claude de Crousaz will be on view through February 11 at the Musée Ariana (www.ville-ge.ch/mah) in Geneva, Switzerland.
“In some fifty years of practice, Jean Claude de Crousaz acquired not only the stature of an eminent and popular ceramist in his city, but he also contributes to the ceramic arts of Switzerland,” said Roland Blaettler, conservator at the Musée Ariana. “In his two fields of predilection—that of the decorated container and that of figurative animalistic sculpture—he has created a style; a removed style, in perfect agreement with the nature of the ceramic medium. The quality and the authenticity of his expression have earned him many distinctions in Switzerland and abroad.”
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| “The Habit of Stillness,” a solo exhibition of works by Woodbury, Connecticut, artist Ann Mallory, was on display through October 29 at the Friesen Gallery (www.friesengallery.com) in Seattle, Washington. Mallory’s work is also included in the Washington Art Association’s 55th Anniversary exhibition, which runs through January 1, at the Gunn Library and Museum (www.gunnlibrary.org) in Washington, Connecticut.
“Scrin, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a secure container (which held writing) evolved into our modern English words script and shrine.” said Mallory. “‘Water’s Scrin’ is a record of the writing of water, implying its essential sacredness to life through its title.”
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| Three Great American Potters |
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| “Three Great American Potters,” an exhibition of work by Jack Troy, Mike Weber and Malcolm Wright, was on display recently at Sara Japanese Pottery (www.saranyc.com) in New York City.
“I am one of the many potters who feel rewarded by orchestrating a dance between the tentative certainties and the inevitable mysteries of working with clay,” explained Troy. “It wasn’t always so. For twenty years, I struggled to gain a ruthless control over ceramic processes, seeking to produce what I imagined my work should look like when it came from the kiln. When I came under the spell of wood firing, I soon realized that discovering unimaginable results every time we unloaded the kilns kept me alert to the countless ways in which success must be constantly up for grabs; never codified or made too predictable.”
“I am interested in exploring the freedom of personal interpretation within the well-defined limits of classical pottery,” stated Wright. “I am inspired by the lineage, or history of an idea in form, and see my work as part of a long and changing continuum. I strive to create the functional object in both the useful and contemplative sense. The method of wood firing allows direct participation in the final step, helping to unify the piece. The fire touches and marks certain pots, adding an intangible effect beyond my control.”
“I have always related to the Japanese culture and have been inspired by some of the potters there,” said Weber. “In my own work, I try to let the clay speak during the creative process allowing for things to happen, which adds to its freshness, its individuality. My work is fired in an anagama kiln that I call Rocketman. This type of firing helps me achieve the effects my pieces demand. I try to keep taking chances with energy and passion, allowing the pieces to ‘become’ while relying on the potential of the natural interaction of the kiln; the shifting, partial cracking, accumulation of natural ash in unexpected ways.”
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| Esther Shimazu and René Martucci |
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| Ceramic sculpture by Esther Shimazu and René Martucci was on view recently at the John Natsoulas Gallery (www.natsoulas.com) in Davis, California.
“Esther Shimazu has been sculpting the male and female nude for more than three decades,” said gallery representative Sonja Burgal. “Shimazu goes to great lengths to make humans that are overstuffed, robust, happy, sad, innocent, and naked to the world. Her great ability to use the natural tones and textures of the clay makes the work agreeable and approachable. But Shimazu pulls no punches—she spares no anatomical detail, often causing laughter or discomfort in her viewers—this is exactly what allows her to speak the truth about what is. What results is a direct statement about the human condition.
“René Martucci has become one of the most well known ceramic artists in the region to sculpt dog imagery. Much like a portrait painter, Martucci creates three-dimensional commissioned portraits of dogs in addition to making her own original artwork. Martucci is a figurative artist, focusing on people and animals as her subject matter. Through her work Martucci seeks to represent thoughts, emotions, simple truths and states of mind. An abiding interest for Martucci is the retablo—a format stemming from her intrigue with her Italian heritage and from the Mexican culture in California—allowing her to create intimate, autographical narratives. These stories address common, everyday scenes—walking the dog or watering the lawn—stories that are immediately accessible to the viewer.”
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| To help celebrate its fiftieth anniversary, the Clay Art Center (www.clayartcenter.org) in Port Chester, New York, presented “In Continuum: Current Work by Past Members,” an exhibition of functional and sculptural works by 28 past Clay Art Center member artists. Simultaneously on view in the upstairs gallery was “Choy Glaze Experiment,” an exhibition featuring 28 current and past members who will honor founder Katherine Choy by exhibiting current works that use her famous glaze recipes.
“In Continuum is a celebration of 28 clay artists who have three life experiences in common,” said Rene Murray, an involved past member who initiated these exhibitions. “They all have love stories to tell about their discovery of clay and their decision to make pottery a part of their lives. They all have stories to tell of their good fortune to find the Clay Art Center (CAC) and work there, to be part of such an exciting and supportive workplace. If they are really lucky, they have stories about working at CAC in the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s when Henry Okamoto, a cofounder, watched over them with the care and devotion of a loving mother. Finally, they all have stories about continuing to work with clay long after they left CAC, keeping pottery in their lives right up to the present.
“It is easy to fall in love with clay,” she continued. “It is wonderful and fortuitous to have worked at CAC. More of a challenge is to continue to work in clay. Then that first bloom of passion becomes the flower of commitment; a lifelong love, filled with hard work and dedication. In continuum. Bravo!”
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| “Sam Scott: 36 Years with Clay,” a retrospective exhibition of works by Seattle artist Sam Scott, was on display recently at Shoreline Community College Gallery (www.shoreline.edu/gallery) in Shoreline, Washington.
The exhibition included functional and nonfunctional pieces from 1971 to the present. “It is interesting to see the evolution of the work,” said Scott. “Over the years I have always used brushwork as a stylistic treatment, but more recently I have been using a black matt glaze in contrast to the white porcelain surface. By throwing the body of the form, then adding the seamed, folded and textured neck, I try to show the organic, skinlike quality of the clay. The biomorphic shapes of the black glaze, poured from both the shoulder and the foot, visually tie the neck and the body together.”
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