Daily Art Muse » Ceramic

alice simpson: portrait of the artist as…

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:50:38 +0000

Look closely at these whimsical busts by sculptor and book artist Alice Simpson. She’s got a grand sense of humor but the art is seriously good. Each of these new sculptures are self portraits of the artist inspired by historical figures, history or great works of art.

The Great Wave, partially glazed stoneware, 9″ x 6″ x 5″

Inspired by the print, The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, by Kastushika Hokusai

Sarah Palin

In 2007 I wrote about Simpson’s Abundant Beauty collection of clay sculpture portraits. She just keeps getting better. You can find her whole portfolio – which includes figurative clay sculptures that range from operatic characters to ballroom and tango dancers in addition to her handcrafted artist books – on her website.

Marie Antoinette, partially glazed stoneware, 11″ x 6″ x 6″

“Imagining myself, as the whim touches my imagination…from history, fantasy, art and style.” Alice Simpson

Oh, what a wonderful imagination – now I want to see Simpson make a self portrait for her Hip Hop series – figures from the New York Hip Hop scene.

claudia poser celebrates nature’s drive towards growth and change

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:48:23 +0000

Simple shapes altered, grouped together, wearing universally appealing textures and patterns – all add interest to Claudia Poser’s ceramic pods. Poser, who has a PhD in Polymer Science, explains that she uses “an abundance of repetitive, organic shapes to explore nature’s instinctive drive toward reproduction, adaptation and survival that thrives in spite of human efforts to impose order.” Many of her pod arrangements are large wall pieces. Click on the images to see them larger – Damage has my wheels spinning.

Kinetic Energy, terra cotta, 41″x21″x3″ as seen on Flicker here

Damage, terra cotta, 41″x22″x4.5″

“The tension between order and emotion, the rational and the organic intrigues me. I find beauty in both natural and manufactured detail. My pods grow out of my fascination with nature’s instinctive drive towards growth and change.” Claudia Poser

Contained Energy, terra cotta and monotype, 12″x12″x2″

Bounce, terra cotta, 48″x24″x3″

Holy, terra cotta, photographs, hardware, and finished wood, 9″ x 22″ x 1.5″, 2009

See more of her most recent mixed media work like Holy [pictured above] here.

“My sculptures evolve from a glimpsed shape, a scrap of clay or a half-remembered dream. I’m motivated by those moments of fusion with the clay when time and judgment drop away and there is only touch and shape, light, shadow, and the beguiling chocolate texture of wet terra cotta.” Claudia Poser

john brickels celebrates the hidden beauty of entropy

Susan Lomuto — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:08:23 +0000

Dilapidated barns, rusty old trucks and cars, factories on the brink of collapse – all are fair game for John Brickels who is inspired by “the hidden beauty of entropy.” The Vermont artist rescues rusted pedal cars and trucks, rebuilding the guts of the cars in stoneware. The tires (flat tires too!), dashboards, chassis, steering wheels, engines – even old tools strewn on the car’s floor in his Claymobiles are all made from clay.

Green Mountain Barn, clay, 23 x 18 x 12

Old Betsy, bicycle body, clay, 32 x 24 x 42

Garton, pedal car body, clay, 36 x 18 x 36

Murray, pedal car body, clay, 36 x 18 x 36

Passaic Paint, clay 28 x 20 x 20

Brickels’ work is informed by architecture, automobiles, machines, nostalgia and all things that show the effects of time and weather. Before creating one of his buildings he takes photos of old barns and gathers images from the internet and libraries. Next, he cuts walls from clay slabs, inscribes bricks, adds texture, boards and shingles (extruded from a clay gun). Each building takes a month or more to dry before being fired. The attention to detail on Brickels’ buildings, claymobiles, robots and machines is astounding.

Read some of Brickels’ thoughts about work, play, life and making a living making art in Ceramic Arts Daily

More at Lazy Pear Gallery

via Ronna Sarvas Weltman

shane keena’s ceramic sculpture: poetic and prickly chimeras

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:48:55 +0000

Ceramic Shane Keena grew up in Southern California, surrounded by surf and sand. An avid scuba diver, Keena has had the opportunity to study a large variety of underwater plants, animals and rocks.

Marmoratus Nudicup, ceramic, luster, mixed media

Marmoratus Nudicup, detail

This ongoing discovery of sea life, along with inspiration from microscopic images of pollen, and exotic fruits like durian and jackfruit, have had a profound impact on the artist’s work. Known for his consistently beautiful glazes, each piece sports hundreds of prickly ceramic spikes, individually hand painted by Keena. While the work speaks to his own guarded nature, it also explores the universal issues of vulnerability and defense mechanisms.

Ibara, ceramic, luster, china paint

Ibara, detail

“My agenda is not to recreate what already exists in the world, but rather to create objects that are chimeras; the result of a blending of ideas begging the question; “is it animal, mineral, or vegetable?” I aim for my work to come to life within arm’s reach, where eyesight blurs into touch with the objective of creating new, enigmatic and uncategorized art-forms.”

Fugu, multi-fired earthenware, luster, individually china painted spines

“The objects I create are the by-products of a long personal investigation and echo the characteristics of my guarded personality. Reflecting a keen interest in structural defense mechanisms found in nature, my ceramic forms swell with bravado, often adopting aggressive or recoiling postures in a fight-or-flight state that protect the visceral interiors.”

Crawl, ceramic, mixed media

Crawl, detail

More at Armstrong Gallery

Read an interview with Keena at South California Potters

the many faces of kimmy cantrell

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 14:38:14 +0000

As we walk through this life we wear many faces that change with time, age and experiences. When Kimmy Cantrell reinvented himself more than 15 years ago (two pivotal events occurred in his life: he left his job as a distribution manager for Target and his marriage ended), the largely self-taught artist began creating abstract, vivid, ceramic faces that explore the unorthodox beauty in the flaws and imperfections in those faces – our faces.

Fruit Dreams

Oooh

Conversations With Bama

I deliberately left out the size of these sculptures because I think they would be valid whether they were small brooches that sit on a shoulder or lapel (to remind us?), life-sized sculptures to gaze at us from a table or over-sized pieces that loom over us to drive the point home (every bit of us is beautiful…maybe especially our flaws).

Me, Myself and I, framed

Places I’ve Been

Kimmy Cantrell

“There are stories behind every line, wrinkle and scar on a human body. I hope to show the beauty within those flaws.” Kimmy Cantrell

merete rasmussen: stoneware’s soft curves

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 13:32:07 +0000

I continue to be attracted to the movement of a curving line and Danish artist Merete Rasmussen’s sculptures are a good example of why curves work for me. Rasmussen uses a coiling technique to create stoneware shapes with concave and convex surfaces that flow in, out and around soft curves. On many of the sculptures and wall pieces she connects only one side and one edge. To further emphasize the form the London based artist uses matte, monochrome colors.

A quick look at her archives will give you an idea of how this body of work evolved. Earlier pieces began to move from lines to curves, softer, softer yet.

I work with abstract sculptural form. I am interested in the idea of one continuous surface, with one connected edge or line running through the whole form. Clear, clean shapes; soft smooth curves in contrast to sharp edges; concave and convex surfaces; the discovery and strength of an inner/negative space – these are all form expressions that appeal to me and results in my continuous exploration and expression in many different variations. Merete Rasmussen.

Merete Rasmussen in her studio

gesine hackenberg: table talk

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:24:19 +0000

Over the weekend I started setting up our new kitchen, unpacking cooking and eating essentials along with special pieces that have sentimental value, like my grandmother’s carnival glass fruit bowl.

{I’ll post pictures of the kitchen when it is finished, but you can see up-to-date pictures of the remodel progress on my Facebook page}

Red Wine/White Wine Rummer Brooch, Finnish table glass, silver, steel needle

The kitchen is often the heart of a home, and most of us have powerful memories that include a dish, pitcher or bowl that held center court in the kitchens of our childhood. My grandmother’s iridescent orange bowl always makes me smile, bringing back memories that span three generations each time I use it.

Grip Brooch, earthenware, silver

Gesine Hackenberg creates jewelry with a focus on the themes of household, kitchen, table and food culture. In the Still Life Collection, Hackenberg takes glass from tableware and turns it into brooches with silhouette shapes of drinking glasses and bowls. The simple shapes and beautiful pairing of colors make for bold statement pieces to wear, but I also like the idea of a grouping of these framed for the wall.

Hackenberg’s earlier work included simple shapes punched from antique ceramics. Wonder if she takes custom orders? The photography is brilliant – really helps to put the work in perspective when you look at it next to the plate or bowl that it came from. Enjoy the images – I have to get back to my unpacking.

Red Ring, earthenware, silver

“I’m fascinated by the aspect of personal preciousness revealed in all kinds of belongings. Especially in objects that seem to find a place close and near to the body. I explore how these pieces can relate to the body and examine this relationship through its connection.” Gesine Hackenberg

Big Makkum Kitchen Necklace, earthenware, thread

Glass Bowls, brooches, finnish table glass, silver, palladium needle

house and home: novie trump’s reliquaries

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:19:14 +0000

Did you miss me yesterday? I’m nursing a badly turned ankle – the result of working too fast while tired and frazzled as we ready the house for our move. I’m hobbling along today, better than yesterday, and expect to get back to work this afternoon. We are making excellent progress and hope to move in a few days. It will continue to be a construction zone for a few more months, but it will be home.
Home. Our nest. Our hive. Home.

Nest, ceramic

I stumbled on Novie Trump’s work while researching Mary Fischer’s ceramic buildings earlier in the week. Trump draws on her archeology training as she creates ceramic houses, books, birds, boats and reliquaries, many that look as though they might have been unearthed on an archeological dig.

The Evolution of Flight, ceramic

She explores ideas of nest/hive/home over and over in the work – the reliquaries resonated most with me this week. Reliquary – a receptacle for keeping and displaying sacred objects. A house for relics, if you will.

Birth, ceramic, 19 x 8 x 3

“…I often use archetypal symbols taken from ancient myths and tales. These iconic images take many forms: the bird as harbinger and messenger, bones as touchstones of quiet power, the forest as a threshold to the unknown. These symbols are used to express such universal human experiences as love, loss, fear, death, courage and transformation.” Novie Trump

White Woods, ceramic

Untitled, ceramic, 15 x 19 x 2

Trump’s Flickr photos here.
Read more about Trump’s work on Daily Campello Art News.

house and home: mary fischer’s ceramic buildings

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:06:59 +0000

While I wait for the crew to finish sanding the final coat of tape and spackle on drywall in five rooms, I continue my exploration of artists who share their interpretation of house and home. I will begin painting the rooms this afternoon and Mary Fischer’s barn, building and house structures appeal to my less-is-more aesthetic. White, distressed, with just enough texture and color for a dramatic affect. I am inspired.

I look at buildings in the wild and in books. They get jumbled in my head and sorted out by my hands. The buildings started as boxes. Lids became roofs. Feet and chimneys appeared and things go on from there, changing from season to season. Mary Fischer

Barn with Grid, ceramic, oxides, slips, 13″ by 4.5″ by 13″

Building with extruded pieces is like playing with Legos. The more pieces you have to play with, the more you can move things around until the right combination appears. Some works include multiple pieces that are not attached so that playing can continue, arranging and rearranging as fancy dictates. Mary Fischer

You can see images of newer work from Fischer’s 2007 solo exhibit at Synderman-Works Gallery.

More at Akar Design and Mudfire.

michihiro matsuoka’s steampunk menagerie: clay mimics metal

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:06:22 +0000

Michihiro Matsuoka manipulates clay until the earthen material looks like aged copper and other discarded metals. Matsuoka’s hybrid world is a fusion of animals and machinery in steampunk-like fashion. The artist’s attention to detail as he formed and painted the menagerie is so meticulous that I thought I was looking at recycled sheet metal.

Grasshopper

Cicadas

Mustang

Rocket Rabbit

See more of Matsuoka’s work at Device Gallery

katherine wheeler enjoys the journey

Susan Lomuto — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:49:54 +0000

Katherine Wheeler considers metal to be her main material, but she often integrates porcelain, paper, linen thread and polymer clay into her jewelry and hollow ware. The Melbourne artist, who maintains a strong focus on enjoying the process of making, has a gold and silversmithing degree from RMIT University in Australia.

Untitled Neckpiece
porcelain, silver, linen and polyester thread, paint, glass beads, pva

Anemone Cup Ring, fine silver, polymer clay, cubic zirconia, paint

Stilt Cup, silver, linen thread, pva, paint

Urchin Ring, fine silver, buckram, paper, paint

My method of designing and making jewellery is spontaneous. I like my work to retain the energy of a quick sketch, which can often be lost during the process of making. The use of fine silver shim allows me to make impulsively. My method allows me to fabricate objects that have a paper-like fragile quality unexpected of metal.

Katherine Wheeler

Read this interview about Wheeler on the Melbourne Jeweller.

ann baker: clay goddess

Susan Lomuto — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 12:46:43 +0000

Is it my quiet mood that drew me to this sweet, soulful art or did the art draw the quiet mood out of me? I’m not sure, but I am peacefully contemplating a garden with one of Ann Baker’s clay goddesses standing tall, guardian of all growing things.

Enjoy the morning’s serenity and please do come back and visit DaMuse this afternoon for some fun to start your weekend.

“As I matured as a sculptor I began work on a torso series creating female forms expressing the complex and beautiful nature of women and their relationship to life. In my Garden Goddess Sculptures I try to express the beauty of feminine fertility combined with the serenity of life and regeneration in the garden.”

Ann Baker’s website

Article in Alt Weeklies

jin young yu: the invisible people

Susan Lomuto — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:56:44 +0000

Korean artist Jin Young Yu addresses feelings of being invisible, of not fitting in the world. The faces on her full-scale figures are haunting and sorrowful, yet the colors and patterns are bright and vibrant.

Yu’s life-size figures are clear PVC plastic (the type of plastic used to make soda bottles) and clay. Working from sketches, she sculpts the human form in clay, makes a plaster cast and then lays sheets of PVC on the mold, heating the plastic so it can take form around the plaster mold.

Her work resonates with me. I understand. I have been that invisible girl/child/woman at different times in my life – and you? Have you ever felt invisible in this fast-paced world?

My works are about people who, instead of getting along with others, choose to keep a distance from them, and be invisible or be left alone unconcerned. Instead of trying to fit into the world, they climb into a space of their own and reject other people’s intrusions. Jin Young Yu

Read an interview with the artist on Arrested Motion

Work in progress pictures here

More images at Union Gallery

chandra stubbs: porcelain + felt

Susan Lomuto — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 12:22:49 +0000

Good Morning! Let’s jump start this Monday morning with a bold cross pollination of art forms. Chandra Stubbs combines the structural strength of porcelain and stoneware with the warmth of needle felted wool in her line of wall installations and bowls. An exciting combination of materials – and her use of lines and circles in splashes of contrasting colors works well.

Inner Motion, 18″x18″x6″, bowl, porcelain, hand felted

Porcelain and felt wall installation

Madison, 18″x18″x6″, bowl, porcelain, hand felted

Porcelain and felt wall installation

Stoneware and felt wall hanging

I find the combination of my hand made felt and the porcelain clay very familiar and comforting. The porcelain is hand crafted on the wheel and extruded. The felt is hand made from Merino and Shetland wool with occasional accents of silk.

high5 polymer clay: shannon sullivan

Susan Lomuto — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:45:57 +0000

Last year I featured Shannon Sullivan’s ceramic, resin and plexiglass wall hangings that were reminiscent of molecule slices on microscope slides (link at the end of the post). Sullivan, who holds an MFA in ceramics, is currently showing a collection of ceramic forms that are embellished with simple polymer clay shapes in repeat patterns across the surface of the ceramic.

Plot With Quilted Field, fired ceramic, polymer clay, mixed media, 12×8x8

Plot With Juicy Cliff, fired ceramic, polymer clay, mixed media, 12×17x7

Plot With Sprouting Rows, fired ceramic, polymer clay, mixed media, 3×7x5

The Assistant Professor of Art at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, California combines earthen clay with synthetic clay in an unusual pairing of materials that are often considered at odds with one another. Polymer, the new clay, often takes a back seat as a credible art medium to the more established earthen clay. Kudos to Sullivan for showing how well they can play together.

Links:

Shannon Sullivan on DAM

Shannon Sullivan’s website