by Carole Epp | Apr 4, 2016 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, technical tuesday
The joyful and cartoony work of Kari Radasch aids the mind of the viewer in creating their own unique experience. Her work is playful and exposes mistakes and marks, each piece being its own doodle, sketch, and work of art all at once.
Radasch infuses her pots with inspiration from old Hallmark cards, Copenhagen China, old-school Tupperware, cake, candy, and textiles. The result is delicious pottery that looks nearly edible, like a uniquely decorated cake fit for a child’s birthday party (one of those elaborate cakes made more to show off to the other parents than for the actual child).
Radasch has been known to work on mosaic house projects that are far more artistically developed than that of your average home-owner, redoing her kitchen backsplash and entire shower. When your life is a work of art, it is indeed reflected in your pots; Radasch’s pots are certainly full of life.
Radasch received her BFA from the Maine College of Art in Portland, Maine and her MFA from the University of Nebraska- Lincoln. She has been an NCECA emerging artist, Salad Days Resident at
Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts and spent a summer working at the esteemed Kohler Factory. On her website, Radasch generously shares all of her recipes and techniques for making. She is currently living in coastal Maine and teaching at the Maine College of Art.
kariradasch.com
Thanks again to our great Guest writers from Ceramics Artists Now. Make
sure to check out their website for more amazing ceramic based artwork.
ceramicartistsnow.com
by Carole Epp | Mar 21, 2016 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, technical tuesday
Zak Helenske puts to use similar languages to create a thread across different bodies of work. He makes functional pots, installations, and cast iron sculptures. At first glance, these various works and different media may not seem related to one another. However, his different works carry corresponding elements that quietly remind the viewer of his thread of inspirations including architecture, industrial aesthetics, and pattern.
Helenske describes part of his inspiration saying, “I am charmed by the anti-monumental, and challenged by the spatial balance between pottery, architecture, and community.”
Within his pottery, Helenske uses simple, varied cylindrical forms and lightly treated surfaces with remnants of pattern and other line work. The decoration references structures and are reminiscent of blueprints or bridge support cables. By using an atmospheric soda firing method, Helenske sacrifices some control over the outcome of his pottery. This process, though, ties his work together as the soda acts to the porcelain like nature and elements do to architecture.
Helenske speaks of the importance of pottery, “Pots are a part of our domestic infrastructure, facilitating rituals of beauty, nourishment, and gathering.”
Helenske received his BFA from North Dakota State University and his MFA from Rochester Institute of Technology, School for American Crafts with a concentration in ceramics and ceramic sculpture. He has been an artist in residence in foundries, casting workshops, and ceramics studios, including Pottery Northwest in Seattle, Washington where he now lives and works.
zakhelenske.com
Thanks again to our great Guest writers from Ceramics Artists Now. Make sure to check out their website for more amazing ceramic based artwork.
ceramicartistsnow.com
