The Slab, ceramic art studio
www.the-slab.com
252 Rte 292
Holmes, NY 12531
(845) 702-4630
kathleen@the-slab.com
Pick up a vase and tumble into a dream. Raise a mug and peek between the flaps of the circus tent. Grab hold of a bottle and enter a secret garden. Singing, poetry and dirty jokes. Dancing and laughter. A passionate, mischievous frolic. I want my work to be alive, to give a sense of the animated where you don’t expect to find it.
For years I drew and painted the human form to express emotions, dreams and philosophies. Many of my childhood drawings were of objects imbued with a human spirit; water lilies that were women, bananas that peeled down to hairy men, trees and rocky canyons with faces and body parts. Working seriously in clay is fairly new to me. It has opened up endless possibilities both artistic and functional. I love the three-dimensionality and that my work can be used in daily life, can be picked up and held.
As you turn them, I want my pieces to surprise you, each side revealing the unexpected. Though eccentric – three legged, asymmetric, multi-rhythmic – they have their own grace. Despite any seeming imbalance they must function, tops the fit, legs that stand firmly, a handle that can be held comfortably, a spout that pours.
Clay, with its long history, has many possible techniques. I find that building entirely by hand, rather; than throwing on the wheel, gives me the organic forms I desire. All my pieces begin as flat slabs of rolled-out clay. I then employ various methods; carving, folding, darting, coiling, stretching and texturing. A great deal of attention is given to details. Pieces are fired either in oxidation in an electric kiln or reduction fired in a gas kiln or a wood kiln.