The Minoan culture, Lasting from approximately 5000 bp to 3450 bp is commonly thought of as the beginning of the group of cultures commonly referred to as Western Civilization. Located on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean sea, the Minoan culture is known today by the many wonderful artifacts left behind following the cataclysmic …
Tag Archives: Kate Fox
Ceramics of Dolni Vestonice
The woman of Dolni Vestonice was discovered in the present day Czech Republic in 1925 at the site known as Dolni Vestonice. The site is located in the Pavlov hills among concentrations of loess with small amounts of clay and sand. It is from this material that the 11.5 cm figurine (Just over 4.5 inches) …
Clay Slab Sculpture
Slabs are the most versatile method for building in clay. Dropping “slab built clay sculpture” into a search engine brings us a dazzling array of ideas, approaches and techniques. As a ceramist, I feel somewhat comfortable working with any technique in clay, but I return again and again to slabs because they allow the greatest …
Coil Pots
This coiled vessel was made by the late potter, Maria Martinez. Maria worked in the tradition of her families village, the San Ildefanso Pueblo. The work of Maria is notable in many ways, the first and most obvious is the elegance and mastery of the work, but possibly more significant is the way the these …
Pinch Pots
These pinch pots, by Kate Tremel, capture exactly what I love about pinched forms. Delicately crafted, the rims become landscape and describes perfectly the action of the fingers in making. Simple glazing accentuates the directness of form. The only addition to these wonderful bowls, is subtraction in the form of pierced openings in the clay …
International Top 10: Pamela Mei Yee Leung
Early in the semester I did a lot of research for this project. Power points, web research and books. All that research went into a gray covered Moleskine note-book that i have used for my ceramic classes for a couple of semesters. Today, as I ran out of the last artists that I remembered from …
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International Top 10: Lin Tianmiao
Though the relationship to ceramic with the work of artist Lin Tianmiao is not specific, I do feel it has a place in this group because of her strong commitment to the use of video in her installations and her ongoing collaboration with her husband, the video artist Wang Gongxin. The other obvious relationship to …
International Top 10: Hayashi Shigek
It is the work itself of Japanese ceramist Hayashi Shigek that employs technology. On the surface, the work is inspired by science fiction and manga, and the look is that of mass produced manufactured goods. Looking deeper the work reveals strong associations with traditional Japanese ceramics and culture. Shigek is from Tajimi City, a …
International Top 10: Aaron Nelson
The work of Canadian artist Aaron Nelson is in my mind one of the most important social commentaries happening in ceramics today. Rather than moaning that the smart phone pulls us out of our bodies, he notes the complex dexterity needed to operate a touch screen and finds that we may be growing closer to …
International Top 10: Grayson Perry
It is difficult to know where to begin in writing about Grayson Perry. He is such a complex and multi faceted artist, for one, ceramic is only a part of what he does, though it does seems to be his primary medium. But also that his work can not be discussed with out discussing him …