Artist of the day – Kalika Bowlby

by | Dec 4, 2009 | Uncategorized

Today is bursting with beauty, prepare yourselves…. for Kalika!


In her own words:
I am a potter working in Nelson BC. All the pots are made from red cone 6 stoneware, decorated with slips and glaze. I use a variety of forming methods-wheel throwing, hand building and press moulding.



Biography
Living in numerous towns and cities across Canada while growing up placed an emphasis on the importance of familiar domestic objects. The ability of domestic ware to be an integral and intimate part of daily life continues to have a strong influence on my studio practice. After an introduction to ceramics at a communal clay studio in Edmonton, Alberta I completed a diploma in Art, Craft and Design majoring in ceramics at Kootenay School of the Arts. I continued my education at Alberta College of Art and Design where I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction. After completing a 10 month residency at Red Star Studios in Kansas City, Missouri, I have set up a studio in Nelson, B.C.’s historical brewery building making pots that celebrate our daily rituals of eating and drinking.


Statement
Handmade pottery celebrates the simple activities of daily life. The forms are known and familiar, they are reinventions of objects that have been made to serve basic human necessities for thousands of years.

The objects I make prepare, serve and celebrate food. They call attention to the importance of the food and rink that nourishes us. Unlike handmade objects, the majority of objects we interact with are disposable, replaceable and do not allow the development of intimate, meaningful interactions. Objects have the potential to contain history and provide a sense of comfort-familiarity through repeated use. Hand making each object, with attention to details in a an industrialized society is a social and political action valuing intimacy and sustainability.

I leave marks of making visible with a desire to engage with the uncertainties, sensuality and intimacies of being human. Obvious attachments, drips from slip and glaze application, these idiosyncrasies can be perceived as imperfections but I consider them the remnants of spontaneity. Intentional variation makes each piece unique, every piece is related but different.
Working with clay is inherently physical. Through all its processes-making, firing and finally using-our sensual, physical existence cannot be denied. To nourish our bodies, senses and minds is to acknowledge our humanness. Our need for sustanence and care is a common experience which can bridge the distance between individuals providing a space for compassion and understanding. We can all relate to the hunger, thirst and the desire for intimacy. Pottery acts as a reminder of our basic needs, revealing our vulnerability.

www.kalikabowlby.wordpress.com

Artist of the Day – Nora Jean

by | Dec 3, 2009 | Uncategorized

Oh I’m loving me a bit of texture! Check out these gorgeous pieces by Nora Jean:


and in her own words:
With thoughts of fabric in my head I use thin slabs of clay to build objects of function that are textured with patterns of nature. Referencing a material that we live in everyday I hope to bring a feeling of life to my work. I love objects in particular cups because of there ability to bring ones daily experience and art together.


Do take some time to checkout her website full of images (i particularly love the whiskey bottles)
norajeanceramics.com

Artist of the Day – Rachelle Chinnery

by | Dec 1, 2009 | Uncategorized

Oh I’m just brimming with excitement, it’s going to be such a beautiful month here at musing with all of these amazing artists I’m going to share with you over the upcoming weeks. Thanks so much to everyone that’s sent in images and info so far, I couldn’t do it without you. There are still a few spots open so keep those entries coming!

To start it all off is the incredibly talented Rachelle Chinnery:


In her words:
I started out in Linguistics, went to Japan to teach for a year, gave up on Linguistics and stayed in Japan for four years. That was the beginning of the training with reluctant Japanese men and the end of my future career as an academic. I came back to Canada, went to Sheridan for a year, then Emily Carr for a year, and realized art school wasn’t really for me either. It’s been a bit of a solo road in the studio since 1995.

Three years ago my husband and I moved to Hornby Island in BC, and just this month my studio is nearing the end of completion. I have been making pots in a trailer for 3 years. Nobody deserves a new studio like I deserve a new studio.

For the past ten years or so I’ve been focusing on a line of carved porcelain. I use a mid-fire body that is translucent where thin, and it rings just like a high-fire porcelain body. In 2007 my work was selected for the British Columbia Achievement Award for Creativity. I was the first ceramist to be a recipient of the award. This bottle and cups set was accepted into the Croatian Post-Modern Ceramics Exhibition in Varazdin in 2009. A lidded jar of mine made it to the finals in the NICHE awards in 2009, and this year this same bottle and cup set also made it to the NICHE finalists list. I was unable to fly to Philadelphia in 2009, so I wasn’t able to attend the awards ceremony – you have to be there to win anything. But this year – I’m going for gold…. (local Olympic rhetoric creeping in there ).

I hope to develop a new body of work in my shiny new studio and return to making larger sculptural pieces – too challenging to make in the trailer.

rachellechinnery.blogspot.com
www.rachellechinnery.ca