David Avery

Ex Libris-In Absentia, 2014
hard ground etching
4 x 10.25”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
We live in an age where words, images, and objects seem to have been looted of meaning. In response to this state of affairs, I have come to think of the etchings I make as being miniature Rorschachs, the reverberations of oneiric gun-shots acting upon the experiences and senses of the unsuspect-ing viewer, as well as the artist. Where do my ideas come from? The same place as everyone else’s—the brain. Or more precisely, they come from the interaction between experience and imagination that takes place within the brain, and I tend to think of my discovery of images in terms of receptivity rather than “inspiration” or “creativity”. If anything, my intent in pursuing a carefully worked out and highly detailed image is to work towards an inward goal unbounded by a set beginning or end, rather than trying to make some inner vision tangible. Even a simple nursery rhyme, once you start picking at it, will reveal layer upon layer of associations and further meanings. I consider my work successful to the extent that it continues to generate multiple interpretations, releasing this capacity for receptivity to the mysterious and the ambivalent that reflects the essential vibrancy of life.

David Avery

Obeliscolychny, 2013
hard ground etching
27.75 x 5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
We live in an age where words, images, and objects seem to have been looted of meaning. In response to this state of affairs, I have come to think of the etchings I make as being miniature Rorschachs, the reverberations of oneiric gun-shots acting upon the experiences and senses of the unsuspect-ing viewer, as well as the artist. Where do my ideas come from? The same place as everyone else’s—the brain. Or more precisely, they come from the interaction between experience and imagination that takes place within the brain, and I tend to think of my discovery of images in terms of receptivity rather than “inspiration” or “creativity”. If anything, my intent in pursuing a carefully worked out and highly detailed image is to work towards an inward goal unbounded by a set beginning or end, rather than trying to make some inner vision tangible. Even a simple nursery rhyme, once you start picking at it, will reveal layer upon layer of associations and further meanings. I consider my work successful to the extent that it continues to generate multiple interpretations, releasing this capacity for receptivity to the mysterious and the ambivalent that reflects the essential vibrancy of life.

Nubia Bonilla

Clorinda, 2015
hand-built, brushed glaze, Raku fired with brass, copper, shells, ceramic balls, and nails for blacksmithing
43” x 7” x 6”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
As an anthropologist and visual artist, my fieldwork in ergological folklore took me to different groups of potters not only in my country but also in Chile, Mexico, and Haiti. I was affected by the same simple vessels that were used in everyday life and for religious rituals. Their use of Raku, Saggar, Barrel, and Pit firing fascinated me. Their vessels were more than just pots, they told stories, and they were timeless and universal. I have always derived pleasure from creating something with my hands; my work derives from my passion for clay, the simple forms, the playful parts, the subtle balance and contrasts in color and texture. My ceramics contain a short history through their creation and production process, every piece has its own origin and evolution, its own story full of symbols and contrasts.

Nubia Bonilla

Maichu, 2014
hand-built with organic material slips, terra sigil-lata, rutile, and copper oxide
22 x 9 x 5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
As an anthropologist and visual artist, my fieldwork in ergological folklore took me to different groups of potters not only in my country but also in Chile, Mexico, and Haiti. I was affected by the same simple vessels that were used in everyday life and for religious rituals. Their use of Raku, Saggar, Barrel, and Pit firing fascinated me. Their vessels were more than just pots, they told stories, and they were timeless and universal. I have always derived pleasure from creating something with my hands; my work derives from my passion for clay, the simple forms, the playful parts, the subtle balance and contrasts in color and texture. My ceramics contain a short history through their creation and production process, every piece has its own origin and evolution, its own story full of symbols and contrasts.

Leslie Brown

Blue Moon of Artemis, 2015
from the Luna’s Secrets series
mixed media monoprint
30 x 22”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The archetype is something that has continually interested me, in that objects or imagery imply meaning beyond the physical sense and particular icons have been repeated historically in different cultures and ages. The author, Clarissa Pinkola Estes says “the archetype fertilizes the mundane world.” I try to unite the mystical with the mundane and embrace the very feminine, intuitive process in the act of image-making. My images deal primarily with women and everyday objects and scenarios that combine the object, the everyday, the spiritual and the sacred. I have created a personal iconography with: woman as hero, virgin, temptress, goddess, mother, and crone. The image of the modern woman merges, with the archetype in my work. The voice of the feminine spirit in fine art is novel in this age and I hope my work has the opportunity to be part of an empowered feminine.

Catherine Burce

Archipelago, 2014
porcelain paper clay
24 x 48 x 3”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The current body of work, collectively called The Floating World, imagines dreamy, abstract landscapes and crafted from porcelain slip. Like the movements of molten lava hardening into stone, the clay body forms contours which also shrink, slump, and crack before reaching their final form at the end of the fire. They are not created with any particularities in mind but instead wait for a name and a story around the studio. Lands that have not been discovered yet.

Catherine Burce

Frattaglie, 2015
porcelain paper clay
8 x 10 x 8”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The current body of work, collectively called The Floating World, imagines dreamy, abstract landscapes and crafted from porcelain slip. Like the movements of molten lava hardening into stone, the clay body forms contours which also shrink, slump, and crack before reaching their final form at the end of the fire. They are not created with any particularities in mind but instead wait for a name and a story around the studio. Lands that have not been discovered yet.

Catherine Burce

Where Seldom is Heard a Discouraging Word, 2015
porcelain paper clay
18 x 48 x 2”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The current body of work, collectively called The Floating World, imagines dreamy, abstract landscapes and crafted from porcelain slip. Like the movements of molten lava hardening into stone, the clay body forms contours which also shrink, slump, and crack before reaching their final form at the end of the fire. They are not created with any particularities in mind but instead wait for a name and a story around the studio. Lands that have not been discovered yet.

Kit Davenport

Ganga Backfoot, 2014
ceramic, glaze, and paint
12 x 9 x 4.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I think of these works as little landscapes of form, arrangements which evoke a situation, a moment, a coherent isolated reality. I am motivated to make these because, like dreams, the sculptures---unifying unexpected forms or gestures in an object---resolve contradictions and suggest alternate realities. If others don’t have this experience with the work, I hope at least that the objects convey something hon-est, experienced as aesthetic pleasure, mystery, or humor. These sculptures are constructed of low-fired stoneware clay, with low fire glazes and/or acrylic paint.

Kit Davenport

Lake Tableau, 2014
ceramic, glaze, and paint
15 x 16 x 6”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I think of these works as little landscapes of form, arrangements which evoke a situation, a moment, a coherent isolated reality. I am motivated to make these because, like dreams, the sculptures---unifying unexpected forms or gestures in an object---resolve contradictions and suggest alternate realities. If others don’t have this experience with the work, I hope at least that the objects convey something hon-est, experienced as aesthetic pleasure, mystery, or humor. These sculptures are constructed of low-fired stoneware clay, with low fire glazes and/or acrylic paint.

Judy Dekel

Torn Leaf, 2013
monoprint
22 x 30”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Leaves are a recurring element and image in much of my work. Their forms, whether skeletal or in full shape always intrigue me. You can see all of the structure and almost vein-like lines in these leaves which have been made bare. They only show what is deep within them. This is what interested me in making these prints. You could almost see through them.

Olga Evanusa-Rowland

Der Bahnhof/Farewell, 2015
mixed media assemblage: ink and found objects
12 x 5 x 5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Physical and cultural impermanence are themes that are central to my work. Drawing upon distant times, materials, and literature, traces of original context are echoed within the pieces through an array of visual clues. Family photographic images, historical postcards, and resurrected detritus evoke vanished time, place, and domestic culture. Repetition, stage sets, and the self-referencing universe of the Brothers Quay films have influenced my work and working methods. Themes of transformation, unease, and illusion within the written work of Robert Walser, Gogol, and Kafka are emotional and aesthetic touch-points that generate my responses to materials and visual interpretation. In the three-dimensional work Der Bahnhof, a short story by Robert Walser (The Train Station, Berlin, 1920) is transcribed in gold ink on a found cabinet. The work explores themes of transformation, parting, and fate.

Doris Fischer-Colbrie

Dianella, 2015
from the Winter Storm series
stoneware clay fired to cone 10 in reduction atmosphere
16 x 12 x 3”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I delight in the beauty of the movement of leaves and grasses as the wind passes. By winter, few leaves and grasses remain. Yet, in a snowfall, these few, still keeping rhythm with the wind, become more clearly defined against the white and gray background. These are the grasses and leaves I aim to capture on a piece of clay that will become a platter, to greet me in my home, at any time of year. The platters have the same visual impact as the grasses out in the elements, pushed by a wind, snow, or rain, but in addition, they possess the plants’ fragile tactile tracings on a smooth very gently textured surface. Clay truly becomes a transcending material. To create the winter series of platters, I select plants that are flexible and show detail when pressed into a slab. I apply layers of different slips, put the slab design-side down on a hump mold and build or wheel-thrown a foot on what will be the bottom of the platter. After bisque, I apply and remove layers of varying oxides, apply glaze, and re to cone 10 in a reduction atmosphere.

Barbara Foster

Bambusa Vulgaris, 2014
u.v. digital, stencil on Kozo paper
32 x 26”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Over the past fifteen years, my work has addressed the fragility of the landscape, whether it is the Nevada proving grounds, deep-sea terrain, reclamation areas, corporate agriculture, or Taiwan urban gardens. And now with the planting and harvesting of trees as a way of looking at the resurrection of the previously blighted or the implications of the unpredictable, the work has become more subtle, in black and white relief prints, Sumi-ink drawings, hybrid digital/relief prints, and carbon prints on Japanese papers. Ink, paper, photographic and specialty materials, and software applications combine to elicit a response that is not immediately obvious, finding kinship among materials and subject.

My projects intend to reshape the visual dialogue on these topics by moving the conversation and practice to reflect the landscapes that have claimed new identities through process yet are still imbued with the patina of intention, history, and event. Bambusa Vulgaris, 2014u.v. digital, stencil on Kozo paper

Barbara Foster

Into the Mist, 2015
woodcut
50 x 22”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Over the past fifteen years, my work has addressed the fragility of the landscape, whether it is the Nevada proving grounds, deep-sea terrain, reclamation areas, corporate agriculture, or Taiwan urban gardens. And now with the planting and harvesting of trees as a way of looking at the resurrection of the previously blighted or the implications of the unpredictable, the work has become more subtle, in black and white relief prints, Sumi-ink drawings, hybrid digital/relief prints, and carbon prints on Japanese papers. Ink, paper, photographic and specialty materials, and software applications combine to elicit a response that is not immediately obvious, finding kinship among materials and subject.

My projects intend to reshape the visual dialogue on these topics by moving the conversation and practice to reflect the landscapes that have claimed new identities through process yet are still imbued with the patina of intention, history, and event. Bambusa Vulgaris, 2014u.v. digital, stencil on Kozo paper

Barbara Foster

Sustainable Tree Farming: Endless Poplars, 2013
woodcut and Sumi ink on Okawara paper
30 x 50”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Over the past fifteen years, my work has addressed the fragility of the landscape, whether it is the Nevada proving grounds, deep-sea terrain, reclamation areas, corporate agriculture, or Taiwan urban gardens. And now with the planting and harvesting of trees as a way of looking at the resurrection of the previously blighted or the implications of the unpredictable, the work has become more subtle, in black and white relief prints, Sumi-ink drawings, hybrid digital/relief prints, and carbon prints on Japanese papers. Ink, paper, photographic and specialty materials, and software applications combine to elicit a response that is not immediately obvious, finding kinship among materials and subject.

My projects intend to reshape the visual dialogue on these topics by moving the conversation and practice to reflect the landscapes that have claimed new identities through process yet are still imbued with the patina of intention, history, and event. Bambusa Vulgaris, 2014u.v. digital, stencil on Kozo paper

Donald Furst

3:20 a.m., 2015
mezzotint
12 x 12”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
There is mystery in the mundane.

Jessica Gondek

Enterprising Machine II, 2013
woodcut and digital print
20” x 16”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The primary focus of my work is abstract, stemming from an interest in technology, geometry, nature, and human invention. Over the past decade, my work has been concentrated in the areas of painting, printmaking, digital printmaking, and drawing.

My recent work endeavors to blur the line between hand and machine juxtaposing woodcut and digital print. The Enterprising Machines series are works inspired by machine aesthetics that reference common tools and domestic utilitarian objects. My process begins with digital manipulations from vintage consumer catalogs published in the early 1900s for Pratt and Whitney Company tools, and Enterprise Manufacturing Company, maker of domestic gadgets. The digitally printed elements I compose recall blueprints or plans and create a foundation for the modification of the context of these implements. Working from observation of actual objects allows for transposition and mutability between layers of printed and observed information. The objects explored are simultaneously transformed denying their original functional purpose and asserting an animated physical presence and interna

David Graves

Ascending Descendants, 2014
reduction woodcut with woodblock transfer
27 x 15”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Much of my work is based on my early training and experience as an archaeologist and anthropologist. I have liberally abstracted symbols used by anthropologists to describe culture. I also draw heavily from received information about contemporary culture including aerial drawings, biology, technology, and of course art history.

David Graves

Masked Mask, 2015
reduction woodcut with woodblock transfer
28 x 15”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Much of my work is based on my early training and experience as an archaeologist and anthropologist. I have liberally abstracted symbols used by anthropologists to describe culture. I also draw heavily from received information about contemporary culture including aerial drawings, biology, technology, and of course art history.

Madeleine Graves

Heron Bowl, 2015
ceramic engobe and hand-cut patterns
3 x 12 x 2.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The essence of my work is creating patterns and applying them to ceramic forms which I make on a pottery wheel. I enjoy making patterns that are inspired by both nature, and international designs. Some of my most recent work reflects a fascination with the role of technology in our lives.

Madeleine Graves

Red Cell Phone Girl, 2014
ceramic engobe and hand-cut patterns
4 x 10 x 3.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The essence of my work is creating patterns and applying them to ceramic forms which I make on a pottery wheel. I enjoy making patterns that are inspired by both nature, and international designs. Some of my most recent work reflects a fascination with the role of technology in our lives.

Karla Hackenmiller

Synaptic Evolution, 2014
etching
10.5 x 13.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I have been exploring the essence of the drawn mark as a parallel for the most basic of thought processes, the firing of synapses. A drawn line forms a connection between two points, just as our thoughts are the paths between a set of neurons. In the creation of these pieces, I work spontaneously, developing an increasingly complex web of systems in the process. Each mark is affected by multiple, interlocking systems and forces that grow out of the ongoing, subconscious process of mark-making.

Currently, I am creating drawings in collaboration with a plotting cutter. Similar to the electrical stimuli of the brain, the plotter is driven by electrical pulses in response to data input. The machine interprets my images with its own language. I respond to those marks with additional hand-drawing, often while the machine is in motion. These two, vastly different electrical systems contribute to new visual assimilations in a hybrid of digital and analog outputs.

Karla Hackenmiller

Synaptic Sprout, 2014
etching
12 x 9”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I have been exploring the essence of the drawn mark as a parallel for the most basic of thought processes, the firing of synapses. A drawn line forms a connection between two points, just as our thoughts are the paths between a set of neurons. In the creation of these pieces, I work spontaneously, developing an increasingly complex web of systems in the process. Each mark is affected by multiple, interlocking systems and forces that grow out of the ongoing, subconscious process of mark-making.

Currently, I am creating drawings in collaboration with a plotting cutter. Similar to the electrical stimuli of the brain, the plotter is driven by electrical pulses in response to data input. The machine interprets my images with its own language. I respond to those marks with additional hand-drawing, often while the machine is in motion. These two, vastly different electrical systems contribute to new visual assimilations in a hybrid of digital and analog outputs.

Mark Hendrickson

Untitled, 2015
hard-stretched clay
7 x 1 x 17”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Unlike most potters, who either throw their pottery shapes on a wheel or use the coil method to build their work, Mark uses an un-usual yet simple stretching method for creation. For his larger pieces, Mark cuts a rectangular shape out of a clay slab and then rolls it over a tube to form a crude cylinder. He then joins and reinforces the edges and adds a bottom. This basic cylindrical form is now ready for a design element, which will be inscribed using one of many assorted tools. The piece is then to be shaped and engineered, using fingers and rubber ribs into a unique one-of-a-kind clay form. Smaller pottery shapes are made from a solid clay cylinder into which he inserts a dowel, compresses the sides until achieving the desired wall thickness, then incises a design element. Using stick-like tools, he then stretches the clay into the desired shape. Over the past ten years, Mark has found that using colored slips, and an oxide/stain finish, visually sets off the design element, and surface textures, created by a clay body’s natural tendency to form stretch marks, slight surface tears, and other delicate anomalies.

Courtney Hockett

Bone Appetite, 2015
offset printing, graphite and watercolor
8.5 x 11”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Bone Appetite was created using the technique of offset printing and includes a total of eight prints, with this being one of two in the third edition. This illustration is limited in the number of images produced and future prints will not be created due to the fact that the plate was destroyed because of the improper application of gum arabic. As a child, I grew up helping my grandmother in her newspaper company, Miller Printing, and Design in Shallotte, North Carolina, and had the opportunity to be exposed to various printing machinery on a commercial level. Because I am still a novice in this field while learning how to use a platemaker I encountered small errors which ultimately resulted in the later destruction of the plate as previously mentioned. The content of this illustration was inspired by the 1958 horror movie The Fly in which I created my own version of a mutilated, human-fly creature. The third eye is a symbol I choose to repeat throughout artwork I base off the 1950s horror decade, such as Bone Appetite, and demonstrates movie-makers ability to know how to induce extreme fear in the viewers of this time.

Courtney Hockett

Drowning, 2015
zinc etching, aquatint and watercolor
12 x 9”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Drowning was created as a result of researching how to incorporate creative literacy in visual arts using a cross-curricular approach. During my studies, I experimented with the writing technique of flash fiction and focused on creating a story that included aspects of Magic Realism that worked cohesively with the use of extreme detail. I then analyzed the story’s contents and chose a climactic scene to illustrate and included a sentence from the event within the actual image. I used my knowledge in the field of printmaking to create an illustration that acted as a narrative producing an image that portrayed a magical feeling through movement and color. The illustration was created using the technique of intaglio, which I added aquatint to, providing the work with a better sense of depth. The visual content of this image was inspired by the Southeast’s largest dry aquarium located in the Museum of Coastal Carolina in Ocean Isle Beach, NC, and the scenarios I encountered at the facility during my time as an intern.

Donna Hollander

Eleanor Roosevelt, 2014
from the Mothers to Humanity series
mosaic, hand-made tile, hand-etched tile, glass and ceramic tile
31.75 x 26.25”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am creating a series of mosaics depicting famous women as iconic ‘madonnas’. Mosaic madonnas are historically rich media that highlight the life of women who have forged a trail, educated, defended, elevated, or illuminated humanity. Women who are ‘mothers to ideas’ that have nurtured creativity, science, writing, and art. Symbology can tell a multi-layered story. So when I research the lives of these women, I look for the events that became symbolic moments. Moments in time that stood apart and made history. These moments become visual images showing ‘her’ story. I create many preliminary drawings before the final drawing. The final drawing is used as a reference for the mosaic. The mosaic faces are almost life-size and fully rendered in hand-cut glass tesserae. I use ceramic tile, glass tile, fine china, hand-etched tile, hand-made porcelain tile that I’ve designed. The halo is gold ceramic tile, and dichroic glass etched with my designs. I love the idea that some mosaics have been around for millennia, yet they are as alive and vibrant today as the day they were completed.

Donna Hollander

Maya Angelou, 2014
from the Mothers to Humanity series
mosaic, hand-made tile, hand-etched tile, glass and ceramic tile
32.25 x 24.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am creating a series of mosaics depicting famous women as iconic ‘madonnas’. Mosaic madonnas are historically rich media that highlight the life of women who have forged a trail, educated, defended, elevated, or illuminated humanity. Women who are ‘mothers to ideas’ that have nurtured creativity, science, writing, and art. Symbology can tell a multi-layered story. So when I research the lives of these women, I look for the events that became symbolic moments. Moments in time that stood apart and made history. These moments become visual images showing ‘her’ story. I create many preliminary drawings before the final drawing. The final drawing is used as a reference for the mosaic. The mosaic faces are almost life-size and fully rendered in hand-cut glass tesserae. I use ceramic tile, glass tile, fine china, hand-etched tile, hand-made porcelain tile that I’ve designed. The halo is gold ceramic tile, and dichroic glass etched with my designs. I love the idea that some mosaics have been around for millennia, yet they are as alive and vibrant today as the day they were completed.

Donna Hollander

Rosalind Franklin, 2014
from the Mothers to Humanity series
mosaic, hand-made tile, glass tile, ceramic tile, hand-etched tile
30 x 22.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am creating a series of mosaics depicting famous women as iconic ‘madonnas’. Mosaic madonnas are historically rich media that highlight the life of women who have forged a trail, educated, defended, elevated, or illuminated humanity. Women who are ‘mothers to ideas’ that have nurtured creativity, science, writing, and art. Symbology can tell a multi-layered story. So when I research the lives of these women, I look for the events that became symbolic moments. Moments in time that stood apart and made history. These moments become visual images showing ‘her’ story. I create many preliminary drawings before the final drawing. The final drawing is used as a reference for the mosaic. The mosaic faces are almost life-size and fully rendered in hand-cut glass tesserae. I use ceramic tile, glass tile, fine china, hand-etched tile, hand-made porcelain tile that I’ve designed. The halo is gold ceramic tile, and dichroic glass etched with my designs. I love the idea that some mosaics have been around for millennia, yet they are as alive and vibrant today as the day they were completed.

Stephen Horn

Bird Urn, 2015
wheel-thrown mixed clays, stoneware, cone 6 and glaze
21 x 15 x 7.25”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Anyone who works in clay is confronted with a multitude of possibilities. Complexity and surprise are built into the medium, the process, the technology. Take one purposeful step down an artistic path, and you're immediately face to face with a crossroads that wasn’t on your mental GPS. Should you keep going straight?—or, what the hell, wouldn’t it be more fun to turn left or right and see what you run into? Exploring the unexpected side roads has always appealed to me. It’s like going on a walkabout. As a teacher, I always say to students: “Try it, and see what happens.” This is my own artistic mantra.

My aesthetic wanderings have been guided by the works of the ancient Minoans, Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans; by Japanese ceramic traditions—Jomon, Haniwa, Iga, Bizen, and Oribe; by artists like Gauguin, Miró, Picasso, Motherwell, Pollock, and George Ohr; and by the ideas of minimalism and other art movements. My modes of working in clay encompass drawing, painting, and printing as well as hand building, mold making, and throwing (if only, sometimes, to smash a pot on the wheel or to engineer its collapse).

What I hope unites my work is a sense of the excitement I experienced in going off-road—and there’s still so much to explore out there.

Stephen Horn

Steve’s Bronze Pitcher, 2015
wheel-thrown stone ware, cone 6 and glaze
11.5 x 6.5 x 10”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Anyone who works in clay is confronted with a multitude of possibilities. Complexity and surprise are built into the medium, the process, the technology. Take one purposeful step down an artistic path, and you're immediately face to face with a crossroads that wasn’t on your mental GPS. Should you keep going straight?—or, what the hell, wouldn’t it be more fun to turn left or right and see what you run into? Exploring the unexpected side roads has always appealed to me. It’s like going on a walkabout. As a teacher, I always say to students: “Try it, and see what happens.” This is my own artistic mantra.

My aesthetic wanderings have been guided by the works of the ancient Minoans, Etruscans, Greeks, and Romans; by Japanese ceramic traditions—Jomon, Haniwa, Iga, Bizen, and Oribe; by artists like Gauguin, Miró, Picasso, Motherwell, Pollock, and George Ohr; and by the ideas of minimalism and other art movements. My modes of working in clay encompass drawing, painting, and printing as well as hand building, mold making, and throwing (if only, sometimes, to smash a pot on the wheel or to engineer its collapse).

What I hope unites my work is a sense of the excitement I experienced in going off-road—and there’s still so much to explore out there.

Mariko Ishii

My Autumn, 2015
linocut-reduction
24 x 24”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am always attracted to the life of ordinary people and what is ordinary is in my environment. My work is inspired by the scene having a peaceful atmosphere, relaxing me, and coming across the simple truth even if it is not peaceful or comfortable. Many of my images are derived from my daily life, traveling, and literature.

Mariko Ishii

Red Leaves Among Green, 2015
linocut reduction
24 x 24”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am always attracted to the life of ordinary people and what is ordinary is in my environment. My work is inspired by the scene having a peaceful atmosphere, relaxing me, and coming across the simple truth even if it is not peaceful or comfortable. Many of my images are derived from my daily life, traveling, and literature.

Julienne Johnson

Bangkok Boogie, 2015
mixed media with pigment transfers and collage
32 x 43”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Bangkok Boogie began with archival inks on Arches paper in the form of an inkjet print, made from a photograph of Dance — an earlier painting, created against the backdrop of the Thai revolution of February 2014. The Arches paper was collaged on aboard. Bangkok Boogie then began its journey, beyond Dance, to further exploration of the underlying sensations of the conflict that enfolded Thailand during my stay. Warm earth tones contend with cooler hues, associated with the privileged. Bits of common fabric is incorporated, and ink from Thai papers is embedded in the paint as transfers that vie for space with Chinese ink and other media. As the piece developed, I recognized feelings in the emotional landscape as familiar, inevitable to each of us when we leap beyond what we know, to what we do not — even as it promises hope. I see the influence of my study of Chinese calligraphy and brush painting, although no brushes were used in either artwork. Only my hands and various small sticks. Dance, which ended where Bangkok Boogie began, was accepted into the permanent collection of Ratchadamnoen Museum, Krabi Province, Thailand, and is on permanent exhibition in their International Gallery.

Carol Ann Klimek

Nude Woman, 2014
porcelain
28 x 10 x 7”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I like to think of the activities we share in life which bring joy, love, health, laughter, passion, and happiness as the most important for spiritual, emotional, and physical survival in life. I hope my artwork reflects these attributes.

In the smallest of explorations to the largest adventures we experience, I can only say that we are humble creatures creating from a mirror of our minds, what we have learned and experienced together. That very togetherness is reflected in us feeling as one with nature, and with each other in our shared lives and loves.

Sheri Inez Kotowski

Estrella de las Tres Puntas, 2015
from the Black Magic Stars Series
Black Magic ink, India Ink, gesso and bee’s wax on paper
22 x 22”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
For 57 years – almost 58 years – I have taken every chance, challenge, even dare that has been offered up. My experience lies in the things I leave behind.

I can easily navigate between the 2- and 3-dimensions and from time to time, even between heaven and earth. However, it is at the ‘edge’ where we advance and retreat to catch a glimpse of the abyss.

Tension lies at the ‘edge’, this place where the physical meets the spirit, where inside meets outside, light passes to dark and to light again. The ‘edge’ is ever-present sharpening and then falling away, and ever as inarticulate as is the tideline. The consistent motion of the earth and the sea, tumbling and roiling, defines delineates and qualifies what is there and what is somewhere invisible, bound in its own nature to perpetuate. It is the place that lets us into another realm.

Kerry Kugelman

Eiswand I, 2014
ink and acrylic on canvas over panel
11 x 11”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
As a painter, using ink and acrylic media has allowed me to explore and expand the range of expression open to me as an artist. Now an integral part of my process, ink continues to reveal its ability to sug-gest and convey new worlds of organic textures and luminous atmospheres. In these mysterious landscapes, I continue to discover new aspects of time, history, and memory, and the sublime power of nature. Kerry Kugelman is a Los Angeles-based artist and has an MFA from Clare-mont Graduate University. His paintings have been exhibited throughout Southern California, and are in numerous private collections. His writing has appeared in local art publications, and he has taught at universities and colleges throughout the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire.

Kerry Kugelman

Diaspora, 2015
ink and acrylic on canvas over panel
11 x 11”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
As a painter, using ink and acrylic media has allowed me to explore and expand the range of expression open to me as an artist. Now an integral part of my process, ink continues to reveal its ability to sug-gest and convey new worlds of organic textures and luminous atmospheres. In these mysterious landscapes, I continue to discover new aspects of time, history, and memory, and the sublime power of nature. Kerry Kugelman is a Los Angeles-based artist and has an MFA from Clare-mont Graduate University. His paintings have been exhibited throughout Southern California, and are in numerous private collections. His writing has appeared in local art publications, and he has taught at universities and colleges throughout the Los Angeles area and the Inland Empire.

Gina Lawson-Egan

Top detail of sculpture

Back of the sculpture

Front of sculpture

Birds of Paradise, 2015
cone 02 and clay
38 x 36 x 33”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
This large head with its large open mouth is significant to me for many reasons, some I am still in the process of understanding. I began it as a demonstration piece at the LA County Fair in 2014. I did not have a complete vision in my mind except for the fact that I wanted to make this head large and have an open mouth, which is a departure from the serene faces that are depicted in my earlier works. The making of this piece also coincided with the decline of my mother’s health and her death. The top portion of the sculpture was to be a crown made up of standing figures. As I struggled to resolve this portion, the conclusion came just shortly before my mother’s passing. Instead of standing figures, it became a representation of her resting at the top, surrounded by flying birds that celebrate her and form a circular crown. The tiny birds inside the mouth could be interpreted as a morbid addition at first glance, but I see them instead as a symbol of life/rebirth, to complete the life cycle. The bird people on the back of the head, which make up the hair, are still unclear to me exactly what they may represent except that they could easily add up to the friends and family of life. Birds of Paradise is the first title I came up with, but I could easily call this piece “Celebration of Life”, for my mother, Laura Lawson.

Gina Lawson Egan is a ceramic artist living in Ontario, California. She received her BFA from the University of Michigan, followed by an MFA in Ceramics from the Claremont Graduate University studying with the late Paul Sold-ner. Gina is currently teaching Ceramics at Cal Poly Pomona University. Her work is in collections around the United States.

Carolyn Liesy

Life Unfolds Out of Our Control, 2013
collagraph on Mylar
40 x 30”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I am currently working with less traditional approaches to printmaking. My work is not editioned, but neither are they monoprints: I use plates. I am interested in making prints that resemble abstract paintings, while at the same time being prints. At times, I use Mylar as a substitute for paper. I am also exploring value and depth. As far as the conceptual element beneath the work, I am always experimenting. I am interested in impermanence, not in the sense of decay, but of change—ongoing flux.

Gina M.

Gina M.
Hanging Bare, 2015
high-fired ceramic, oxide wash, wire and straw
62 x 36 x 24”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
Hanging Bare, a ceramic sculpture by Gina M. dangles from a ribbon on a wall and was born from a distorted childhood memory of a Goya etching, an understandable mistake as her family performed at birthday parties where puppets hung in rows, in the shadows, behind the stage. The sculpture started years later after she saw a photo of the etching again from the Disasters of War: Tampoco, where a smiling French soldier eating an apple, watches a hanged man dying in front of him.

CJ Mammarella

Dummy, 2015
from the Via Dolorosa Series
ink and watercolor on paper
23 x 17”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
What it means to be a human being is a war between emotion and intellect and is a theme that is as expansive as it is common to the question of human meaning. These three pieces exhibited, culled from a current series entitled Via Dolorosa navigate through that conflict. The works arise from looking at ‘life & death + beauty & ugliness with no specific predilection or hierarchy assigned to any one state.

CJ Mammarella

Mask, 2015
from the Via Dolorosa Series
ink and watercolor on Japanese paper
39 x 39”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
What it means to be a human being is a war between emotion and intellect and is a theme that is as expansive as it is common to the question of human meaning. These three pieces exhibited, culled from a current series entitled Via Dolorosa navigate through that conflict. The works arise from looking at ‘life & death + beauty & ugliness with no specific predilection or hierarchy assigned to any one state.

CJ Mammarella

Puppet, 2015
from the Via Dolorosa Series
ink and watercolor on supported watercolor board with wire
11 x 9 x 3”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
What it means to be a human being is a war between emotion and intellect and is a theme that is as expansive as it is common to the question of human meaning. These three pieces exhibited, culled from a current series entitled Via Dolorosa navigate through that conflict. The works arise from looking at ‘life & death + beauty & ugliness with no specific predilection or hierarchy assigned to any one state.

Saritha Margon

Gray #4, 2012
acrylic and ink on paper
22.5 x 29”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I have become engrossed with symmetries as a way of expressing myself in different media. They are abstractions that mimic life. It is one image that replicates itself and becomes a more complete image. As soon as there are two sides to an image, it becomes organic and recognizable. While I enjoy doing work, I also think the viewer becomes engaged with seeing and puzzling out recognizable forms, much like in a Rorschach test.

I draw on paper that has been folded in half. I then draw with a clear acrylic so that what I draw is not visible. Only when I unfold the paper and let the drawing dry, and proceed to put ink washes over the dried drawing does the drawing become visible. It is both spontaneous and ordered by symmetry.

Saritha Margon

Red Ink, 2012
acrylic and ink on paper
11 x 15”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I have become engrossed with symmetries as a way of expressing myself in different media. They are abstractions that mimic life. It is one image that replicates itself and becomes a more complete image. As soon as there are two sides to an image, it becomes organic and recognizable. While I enjoy doing work, I also think the viewer becomes engaged with seeing and puzzling out recognizable forms, much like in a Rorschach test.

I draw on paper that has been folded in half. I then draw with a clear acrylic so that what I draw is not visible. Only when I unfold the paper and let the drawing dry, and proceed to put ink washes over the dried drawing does the drawing become visible. It is both spontaneous and ordered by symmetry.

Saritha Margon

Symmetries 34, 2011
acrylic and ink on paper
14.5 x 22”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I have become engrossed with symmetries as a way of expressing myself in different media. They are abstractions that mimic life. It is one image that replicates itself and becomes a more complete image. As soon as there are two sides to an image, it becomes organic and recognizable. While I enjoy doing work, I also think the viewer becomes engaged with seeing and puzzling out recognizable forms, much like in a Rorschach test.

I draw on paper that has been folded in half. I then draw with a clear acrylic so that what I draw is not visible. Only when I unfold the paper and let the drawing dry, and proceed to put ink washes over the dried drawing does the drawing become visible. It is both spontaneous and ordered by symmetry.

Rebecca Marsh McCannell

Pierced, 2013
from the Paper Holes series
intaglio with a la poupeé inking
24 x 18”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
This print was inspired by a scrap of waxed paper that had been punctured with a pencil, leaving a surprising variety of creases and torn openings. I enlarged the scale of the image to draw attention to the subtleties. I tried to suggest the translucent quality of the surface by using selective inking techniques as I printed the intaglio plate.

Kay Marshall

Tell Tales, 2015
monotype and graphite
11 x 11”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
My work is very much driven by the process of painting, printing, and collage. It reflects my interest in memory, impermanence, and the relationship between opposites such as order versus chaos, structure versus gesture, and line versus form. I try to develop levels of meaning by building and/or re-moving layers of paint, ink, paper, and other materials. Each piece has its own history, which is partially revealed through various layers. They are images and marks contained in layers of space and time.

Penny McElroy

El Matrimonio de Archimedes, 2014
from the Regalos del Fuego series
sagar-fired ceramic with encaustic, gouache, photocopy colored pencil, graphite, vintage glass slide, cicada wings, waxed cord, and pins
16 x 16 x 6”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
One of the joys of looking at art is when something in the work sparks a fire of recognition just beneath my heart. This flash of personal understanding is powerful – it is like a shared memory. It makes me laugh for joy, sometimes it makes me cry, and always it makes me think. It is usually small and unexpected elements that evoke this reaction – a slight crack, patched and re-cracked at the edge of a sculpted wrist, a look of longing in the eyes of someone in a photographed crowd, a color subtly peeking from underneath its complement...

These experiences are intimate and deep. And they provide me with abid-ing goals for my own work. I want to tell the stories that exist under the surface – to make the unseen, seen. I want to re-experience the intimacy of shared secrets. I want to parse the truth that exists in façade. And when this magic works, it leads me, and I hope for viewers also, on an exploration of fleeting dreams and intimate logic that opens a door to the place where sense and non-sense meet.

Leslie McQuaide

In Between Divine Communications, 2013
assemblage: clay with Ediphone parts, tile cutter and found objects
34 x 24 x 12”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso looks forward with great anticipation to the birth of every new child. Each soul they await has promised to bring a special gift from the spirits of the ancestors that the community needs for its health and healing. The well-being of the larger community depends upon its members taking responsibility for their individual promises as they grow through life as a tribal member.

As a woman in contemporary western society, I reflect often on the Dagara sense of living one’s life for the benefit of the larger community. The work speaks to maintaining the connection to the unseen world of the spirits and to the cultivation of a sacred state of openness to divine messaging.

Leslie McQuaide

Mother Come Forth, 2014
assemblage: clay with Ediphone base, steel and found objects
58 x 22 x 15”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso looks forward with great anticipation to the birth of every new child. Each soul they await has promised to bring a special gift from the spirits of the ancestors that the community needs for its health and healing. The well-being of the larger community depends upon its members taking responsibility for their individual promises as they grow through life as a tribal member.

As a woman in contemporary western society, I reflect often on the Dagara sense of living one’s life for the benefit of the larger community. The work speaks to maintaining the connection to the unseen world of the spirits and to the cultivation of a sacred state of openness to divine messaging.

Leslie McQuaide

The Burden of Purpose and Gift, 2015
assemblage: clay with encaustic, Hollywood film can, typewriter keyboard and found objects
34 x 25 x 12”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
The Dagara tribe of Burkina Faso looks forward with great anticipation to the birth of every new child. Each soul they await has promised to bring a special gift from the spirits of the ancestors that the community needs for its health and healing. The well-being of the larger community depends upon its members taking responsibility for their individual promises as they grow through life as a tribal member.

As a woman in contemporary western society, I reflect often on the Dagara sense of living one’s life for the benefit of the larger community. The work speaks to maintaining the connection to the unseen world of the spirits and to the cultivation of a sacred state of openness to divine messaging.

Lee Middleman

Oribe Sunflower, 2015
stoneware, wheel-thrown, hand textured
7 x 10 x 10”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I throw classic forms and use surface textures to give them energy and vitality, resulting in art that is both pleasing and alive. I seek to create patterns and textures that emphasize the organic interplay between order and randomness as found in Nature.

The tactile feel and visual look of surface textures are essential to my pieces. I create textures by deeply impressing patterns into thrown cylinders. Then, working from the inside only, I expand the cylinder to create the final form. This technique allows the pattern to evolve as the clay twists and expands. As the pattern adjusts to the shape and function of the vessel, it becomes reflective of Nature’s adaptation to form.

My glazing process enhances the natural aesthetic of the order and randomness. Thinly glazed surfaces highlight the macro patterns and reveal the stoneware clay’s micro-texture created during the expansion process. I often use multiple glazes to intensify the dynamic tension of the surface.

My goal is to pursue the interplay of shape, surface texture, ordered patterns, and random effects so that work is created that intrigues the eye and demands to be touched. Although my work is functional, it is often prized as decorative.

Yoko Miyahira Bostwick

Great Depth IV, 2015
contemporary coiled Jomon clay
15.5 x 12.5”
Courtesy of the artist

Artist Statement
I was born on the island of Okinawa in Southern Japan. When I think of my childhood and hometown, I fondly remember the island as a place surrounded by colorful corals and a beautiful, blue sky. I spent my childhood playing, swimming, and collecting many colors of drifted corals and seashells at the beach with friends. As a student at Citrus College, around age 48, I had a fateful encounter with clay. I enrolled in Ceramic classes, and since then working with clay has become my passion. How fortunate I am to find passion late in life! I enjoy every moment I am working with clay. Somehow, it reminds me of my childhood, and I lose track of time. My heart overflows with joy when I am making things with clay. My interest in ceramics is diverse and I love all different kinds of ceramics: avant-garde, contemporary, and traditional ceramic arts. I enjoy making all of them as they have their own beauty. Whenever I think of my childhood and my Island, it is a perfect time for creating objects in the Jomon style. Jomon, I have read, is the oldest ceramic style in the world and it comes from Japan. Somehow, when I look at pictures of rustic, yet beautiful Jomon, it humbles me. Back then there were no modern tools such as the wheel to create pottery. Just as in most early societies, women were the ones making pottery. I am hooked on creating Jomon-style pottery, and it is my challenge to innovate and create my own contemporary style. I think I have captured the spirit of my little island and ancient Japanese pottery making.