Photos and reporting by Robert Kokenyesi, Ceramic Artist, Beachfront Pottery, Godfrey, IL, 62035, USA. If you enjoyed this post, then give me a “like” on my Facebook page. There is additional information about Beachfront Pottery on my web site.
The Venue
The national juried exhibit titled Plate & Platter took place from January 16 through February 22, 2019 in the Carbondale Community Arts building, Artspace 304. The exhibit was in collaboration with Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s School of Art and Design Ceramics area.
This the starting place with the jurors comments.
The Call for Entry
Open to all artists 18+ living within the United States. Works must measure no more than 20” in any direction or weigh more than 50 lbs and must be ready for display. Work must be 70% ceramic, completed within the last three years, and address the theme of plate and/or platter.
Plate & Platter 2019 will be the first in a biennial national juried exhibition showcasing functional and sculptural ceramic plates and platters with innovative surface, form, function, and/or concept. This inaugural exhibition will be juried by ceramic artist Chandra DeBuse.
The Ceramic Art Pieces
This post has the non-round shaped plates and platters.
On her web site Tara states: “As a maker of objects, I create ceramic work that is contemplative as well as functional. Curiosity and imperfection come with being human; it is with these ideas that I create forms and surfaces that are beautifully irregular yet harmonious and pique the viewers curiosity.” The Zip series is using the zipper motif (slip cast) that gives these pieces very distinctive look.
On a museum site Pattie states: “I create ceramics and drawings depicting stories culled from childhood tales, four-for-a-dollar comic books, movies-of-the-week and family photo albums. My work is a collage of these influences in combination with historical and imagined elements that reveal my observations about identity and ideologies. The synthesis is personal but the images are given in familiar language: true love, silent contemplations, or broken hearts for example. The stories merge with my own experience into semifictional vignettes.
I am inherently an explainer and a storyteller and through my work I attempt to map my experiences while allowing for an altered perspective. Often what results is a narrative that provides the frustration and the satisfaction of deciphering a difficult puzzle. Check out her web site for more of her creations.
On his web site he states: ”
I am a collector of objects; bicycles, books, baskets, clay, paintings, prints, plants, etc. I try to keep an interest in the world around me. Amassing these objects gives me continued movement through my personal space with never ending images and thoughts. The act of adding and arranging never seems to end; this helps draw new ideas into my creative process.
I am also a maker of objects, using clay as my dominant material. When channeling my interests out into surface and form I am able to connect with seen and collected objects as well as the earth to give what I made life. From the simplest shape of a nail to the complexity of a sunset, these are not just vessels they are ideas, memories, substance and joy.”
I couldn’t find a dedicated site for Bo. In an old newspaper interview he explained that he uses the wax resist technique, and likes to limit the colors on his pieces to six. The looks of this plate fits all that.
On her web site Sara states: “My current investigations in clay are a direct relation to my own daily rituals. A handmade mug for coffee in the morning, a tumbler for water throughout the day, and a voluminous tea bowl for tea in the evening. As vessel maker these utilitarian objects keep me excitedly making to find my next favorite one in a series. I believe the more voluptuous the form the better for both containment and consumption.”
On her web site Denise states: “Utility is paramount in my investigation as an artist. Inspired by mundane activities of the day to day my work focuses on functional objects. I strive to create objects whose purpose is elevated from a purely functional state to one that balances the functional, the visual and the tactile. The balancing of these relationships has operated as source inspiration for the creation of my work.”
On her web site Shana states: “I love beauty and elegance as much as quirkiness and playfulness, and my vessels seek to allow the user to share my passions. Decoration versus content, beauty versus pragmatism; these are the dialectics that inform my work. Each new form begins as a conscious process of experimentation and elimination, begun on the potter’s wheel and then changing through alteration and sometimes adding hand-built components. ”
On her web site she states: “I hope to explore that space just under the surface of familiarity through formal elements like color, texture, line, as well as, referencing specific vessels commonly found in our everyday lives. My work becomes the expression of intimacy of the home, and how aspects of our domestic life might be uncomfortably sensitive but universal. ”
On her web site she states: “As a woman who has been on some sort of diet since age 12, it was difficult to come to terms with the fact that your body is dependent on another object (or twenty) to fully function. By creating functional pieces specifically made to accompany these un-enjoyable aspects, I intend to make the elements of my routine that I dread, something to look forward to. ”
On her web site she states: ” I am interested in exploring the dividing line between utilitarian and sculptural ceramic works. My work intentionally exists in the middle ground between these two definitions and bridges a gap between functional pottery and ceramic sculpture, as the work is made with function in mind but focuses more on the aesthetics of composition, form, texture, color, rhythm, balance, motion, and visual tension.”
On his web site he states: ” My work is a material articulation of the relationships, origins, and roles of functional objects and their interactions between landscape and utility. Utilizing a vocabulary of functional ceramic objects, my work explores material and process as a vehicle to articulate relationships between object and containment, body and environment. Through the use of landscape and process residues I seek to connect the viewer to the transformation of material into object.”
On her web site she states: “My surface decoration complements the composition of the form. This relationship between the surface and form creates a pleasant feeling, not only when you look at the piece but also when you use the piece. Pattern is an important element to my surface design; it can accentuate or flatten a form. I strive for patterns that are very organized and calming to the human eye by using balance between positive and negative spaces.”
On a third party web site he states: “My forms are often manipulated from thrown parts. I have been changing many of my forms to make the finished vessels more sculpturally active yet reflective of utilitarian objects from a variety of vessel making crafts, form clay to glass and fine metal craft. My color is derived from sources of iron stains applied on base glazes before firing.”