emerging artist: Shannon Butler

by | Jul 28, 2013 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

Artist Statement

My aim is to create progressive, dynamic work that engages with the reality of the place where I live and the people I live among. My biggest thrill is when I realize I have created something the likes of which I have never seen before.

By “inventing” ceramic objects, such as letter holders or antler buckets, that have practical as well as aesthetic purposes, I am attempting to create a space of my own within the ceramic field. I feel that by marrying local materials, such as naturally shed antlers and vintage horse bridles, with my ceramic vessels, I am both upcycling and creating something that functions at a “higher” level. At the same time I engage the public and my northern community in the act of having a daily relationship with handmade objects.

It is a somewhat uncommon existence I lead here in this northern oilfield town. I am inspired by the irony of my situation, and by nostalgia, popular and northern culture. I explore these inspirations in my work, juxtaposing ceramic techniques against each other while making objects that function in an extraordinary way. I am compelled to challenge conventional ceramics and myself by mixing ideas from pop culture against historical tradition, and vintage aesthetics against contemporary. This creates a sort of bricolage, a complicated and layered presentation that defies traditional notions of authenticity and, even, beauty.

My work assembles diverse elements that celebrate and investigate the nuances of contemporary life, pop and northern culture, the art of making things by hand, and the practice of incorporating interesting and useful ceramic objects in everyday life. Art should be all around us, not just in museums.
shannonbutlerceramics.blogspot.ca

emerging artist: Noelle Horsfield

by | Jul 21, 2013 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

I was raised on a farm in Southern Ohio where I spent my time reading
books, playing in the woods and creating things to amuse myself.  I
have always known that I needed to make art, so after high school, I
attended a variety of colleges, all majoring in fine arts, as well as
spending time at Haystack Mountain School of Art.  My love of making
things led me to try my hand at a wide variety of mediums before I
finally fell in love with clay.


When my husband Scott and I married in 1997, we decided we wanted to
experience living in different areas of the country, so we moved first
to Northwest Indiana, then to Maine, then to Massachusetts, and, due to
family needs, finally back to Ashland, Kentucky, which is near the homes
of both of our parents.  With hard work and time, we transformed our
basement into a functional and inspiring ceramics studio where I now
spend my days creating beautiful pottery and ceramic art.

www.noellehorsfield.com
 


Want to be featured as an emerging artist on musing? All you have to do is send me some images, a brief write up if you’d like, and a website if you have it to [email protected] If you could put emerging artist in the subject header of the email so it doesn’t get lost in my spam folder that would be great. Thanks!