emerging artist: Rickie Barnett

by | Nov 1, 2014 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

Artist Statement
Rickie Barnett
“ I have these two friends that pull on my heart in separate directions, so when examined it looks bigger than it really is.”
                                                  -Elliot Maldonado
My
work is an internal look at the preeminent  issues of being bound to
another and the effects it has on individuals. In the struggle of trust
and loyalty love is present and a greater understanding of friendship is
found. Connectedness and the inner struggle to stay honest to myself
and to my loved ones is significant in my work. In the confines of a
conscientious head and heart, strength and integrity are born and
encourage continuity.
I
work figuratively creating characters based on the struggle of
balancing relationships, placing them in an open narrative where they
can revisit emotions experienced but not quite understood. Striving to
weave a web of connectedness based on internal reflections of my
relationships to the world around me
Literary,
visual storytelling and the art of songwriting play a large role in my
inspiration to create due to storytelling’s ability to allow an endless
yet controlled method of delivering feelings and emotions. The medium is
the apparatus; a means to an end. It is the vehicle which conveys
individual temperaments via storytelling.
Working
with clay lends to the idea of creation in and of itself. It gives the
opportunity to be more connected with the work. Pinching, coiling, and
slab building, I move the earth between my hands until a form starts to
take shape, changing with every movement of my fingers.  As I watch it
go through the stages of drying i ponder it’s creation before I put them
through temperatures that a human could not withstand. Using oxides,
slips, underglazes and glazes I treat the surface in a painterly fashion
with brushes and washes before putting it through a series of firings.
Firing them again and again until the surface becomes rich and desirable
and the piece can speak for itself. Striving to provide a sympathetic
relation to narrative in the restlessness of living in one’s head space,
a sickness through which ideas are made. 
Rickie Barnett graduated from California State University, Chico in 2013 with a BFA is studio art. He is currently the long term artist in residence at Taos Clay in Taos, NM

guest post – “show us your influences” with Andrew Tarrant

by | Jul 18, 2014 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

 My work is heavily influenced by historical and mythological examples, in form,
use and decoration. I wouldn’t class myself as a production potter, nor a

sculptor, if pressed I usually say I’m a vessel maker, or a maker of things.


I do not generally attribute any artists as a direct influence but rather the (almost) faceless artisans of the past. I have a simple Roman bowl that I
purchased in London when I was a student at ACA back in the late 80’s. It sits on my kitchen table, I’ve put nuts in it during parties. I like that it was made in the first century (AD) and it is still in use in the twenty-first century. I like the longevity of clay.

I have major geek cred, I collect and have sold collectable sculptural toys,
comics and such. In the past we never knew the names of the toy sculptors but these days they are proudly printed on most of the packaging. As potters we are
known only by our marks, sometimes by our names, but always by the look of our art. I can usually tell if two different toys were sculpted by the same person.

Back to the late 80’s again, where I met a jewelery student who practiced
martial arts like I did. We practiced together, exchanging styles, and became
close friends. Jeff deBoer is not so much an influence as a brother in design.
Once or twice we have even come up with the same designs at the same time. We
share a similar design sensibility, snobbery of single-malt, and sarcastic
humor.

website – http://www.trespasser.ca
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/TrespasserCeramics
Instagram – http://instagram.com/the_trespasser
Twitter – https://twitter.com/The_Trespasser